2022 MCCTA

Official Montana 500 Website


Montana Cross Country T Assn.
7516 E. Mission Spokane, WA 99212
www.montana500.com

2001 Officers and Directors:
President: Sam Nickol
Vice President: Rick Carnegie
Sec.-Treasurer: Janet Cerovski

Directors:
Tom Carnegie
Tony Cerovski
Stan Howe
Doug Langel
George Nickol
Simon Nickol

Meeting Secretary: Carla Carnegie
Correspondence: Tom Carnegie

Date of endurance run is June 17th
Membership dues $10.00
Touring class: $25.00
Endurance runner: $35.00

Cover picture: East Glacier, third day of 2001 Endurance Run. Picture taken by Paul Marx.

General News

The 2001 endurance run is over. It was won by Ron Miller. Ron is my kind of model T guy. I understand that he had his head off his motor 17 times, the last time in the parking lot at the hotel before the race. I on the other hand broke my seal from the year before only because I couldn't get my car to go onto the trailer. I have vowed to be better prepared for next year!

Normally the number after your name indicates through what year your dues are paid. I have not updated after the race, so some people's numbers may be out of date. I will try to get synched up with Janet by the next newsletter.

The people from ESPN were there at the race, video taping. The show is scheduled to air August 13th on a show called "Car Crazy". If you have cable, you might want to check your listings to find out when it will be shown.

This month, I have two more driver's profiles, including one written by the cast-iron champ, Rich Armstrong. Rich is not made of cast-iron, but his T had pistons made of cast-iron for many years.

If anyone has photographs of past years that they can scan and e-mail to me, I would love to put them on the web page for all to enjoy. Speaking of the webpage, I still don't have complete results for 1971. If anyone has this information, please let me know.

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Compression Ratios

Here is some information that might be of interest to people. Thanks to  Larry Young of Tulsa, Oklahoma for this. Larry cc'd various heads. These are the results he got. The total volume of the cylinder is 44.2 cubic inches. The total volume of the part of the piston that sticks up above the bore is 2.86 cubic inches. The head gasket holds .92 cubic inches. The total combustion chamber is the head volume minus the volume of the part of the piston that sticks above the bore, plus the volume of the head gasket. Using the stock head as an example: 17.9 minus 2.86 plus .92 = 15.96 cubic inches for the total volume of the combustion chamber. Cylinder volume plus combustion chamber volume divided by combustion chamber volume equals the compression ratio. (44.2 + 15.96)/15.96 = 3.77:1
The first number will be the head volume, the second will be the calculated compression ratio.

Stock head 17.9 = 3.77
Stock (milled 1/8") 15.6 = 4.24
Waukesha-Ricardo 16.6 = 4.02
Z-head 13.7 = 4.76
Z-head (milled .050") 12.8 = 5.07
Reeder 12.2 = 5.31

Now the same figures for an engine bored .060" over.

Stock head 3.86
Stock (milled 1/8") 4.34
Waukesha-Ricardo 4.11
Z-head 4.88
Z-head (milled .050") 5.2
Reeder 5.44

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Summary of 2001 Montana 500 Endurance Run
by Tom Carnegie


Sunday was inspection day. Somehow the local newspaper had printed an article saying that the run proper began on Sunday, a misapprehension shared by some of the T drivers. Better too early than too late I guess. After we had inspected all the cars, we had our evening meeting and drew numbers. Rick Carnegie, last year's winner was number one, and Rob Flesner, a newcomer this year, was the last car (a position he held the entire way) with number 18. We had four more or less touring cars. Peter Proschold from Las Vegas with his brass touring car, David Lingle with the roadster his dad Melvin drove, Keith Painter from Bountiful, Utah and Simon Nickol with his touring car. David and Simon had a little trouble, and didn't tour with us too much, but Keith and especially Peter drove a lot of miles. I wouldn't be surprised to see Peter back next year with a racer. Simon helped out with the trouble unit throughout the run. Monday morning in the rain, we headed out for Whitefish to flag out. The first leg saw the first T break down. It was Ted Ballard with rear axle troubles. Ted was driving a car that used to belong to Orrin Culross of Culver City, California. Orrin used to race in the mid '70's. The next casualty was on leg three when Tom Carnegie's crankshaft broke. Tom was in second place at the time. The rest of the first day was uneventful, until after the last leg, Nan Robison's rear axle started making funny noises. Since Tom's car was dead in the water it was

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decided to cannibalize it. The rear axle assembly got put into Nan's car, the radiator was put into Mike Robison's car, as he had had radiator trouble all day, and the coils went into Rob Flesner's car, as he had had coil trouble.

Day two saw the next catastrophe.  Nan Robison's car lost a magnet, which seized up the motor, just as she was attempting to pass a truck. Josh Billmayer was right on her tail, but managed to somehow avoid hitting her as she skidded to a stop along side of the road. Nan was in sixth place at the time. About noon, the crew from ESPN showed up and began to record the action. They stayed and taped until the end of day three. At the end of day two, Ron Miller was out in front followed by Doug Langel, then Steve Coniff.
Day three saw the last break down. Mike Robison's borrowed radiator couldn't take the stress, and blew up. Mike had to quit with just two legs of the run left to go. Mike was in tenth place at the time. Also on the third day, Harold Mann withdrew to tour Glacier Park. Harold was in fourteenth place at the time. During the course of day three, Steve Coniff and Doug Langel swapped places.  After all the times were compiled, we had a driver's meeting where we decided against having a post-race tear down. President Sam Nickol presented Ron Miller with the first place trophy.  Dave Huson generously donated a trophy for the best place finish by a female. It was awarded to Anna Marx. Anna finished tenth overall.
All in all, it was a great run, with good weather, a superb route and excellent timing and flagging. We had more entrants this year than we've had since the 1980's. Next year we look forward to an even better Montana 500!

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Driver Profile: Grant Lundin

by Tom Carnegie

Grant was quite involved in Model Ts as he owned the Antique Auto Ranch. In the late 1960s his friend of his named Dick Bergan decide to enter the Montana 500. Grant went along as pit crew. By 1970, Grant had his own car, but on the third day broke his crank and did not finish. He came back in 1971 and finished 14th in the aluminum division. That was the last year he raced, but that is not the end of the story. In 1972 his hired man built a car and came to Montana. In 1975 another one of his employees came over. Their names were Rick Carnegie and Tom Carnegie. That is not the end of the story. In 2000 his daughter Carla Carnegie came over and drove. The next year his grand-daughter

Anna Marx took a stab at T racing. Grant still lives in Spokane and is active in the local Model T club.

Grant-Lundin

Grant flags out in the 1971 run.

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John Foos
by Rich Armstrong

  John Foos was reared in Laurel, Montana, but now resides in Helena. John entered his first race in 1961. He competed in the last two days of the Missoula to Circle race promoting Highway 200 through Montana. After the Montana Cross-Country  "T" Assoc. was organized, John joined and participated in thirteen races through the 1980's.

John was a fierce competitor! His motto-" I CHEAT". This was more bluff than anything, as his generosity was very evident in that he never refused to assist anyone-
whether it is the need for a coil or EVEN the loan of a complete engine!
John served as President in 1966 and 1967. His wife, Donna, was Sec.-Treasurer.
Spontaneous response was one of John's characteristics. During a race in the Flathead country, the weather was cold and very rainy. After two days of driving with no top on his roadster, and while stopped for coffee and trying to find shelter from the elements,
a young man driving a Model A Sedan stopped. He leaned out the window and asked John
if he would trade. John jumped up and said, "Get your junk out and you have a trade".
Five minutes later, John was a proud owner of the A. John's comment when asked why he did it; "At least I'll be dry"!

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The Montana 500 is Sanctioned by The Montana Cross Country T Association.