Official Montana 500 Web Site

Driver Profiles

One Year Wonders

There have been about 200 drivers enter the Montana 500 over the course of the last 40 years. Almost everyone who enters comes back another year to try it again. In fact about 80 percent of Montana 500 drivers return after their first try.

Not including current drivers (folks who have entered in the last five years) to date, there have been 34 people who have only entered one endurance run, they are: Judge Brownlee, Jim Gendreau, Joe Hoover, Norman Kerr, A. B. Lee, Melvin Lingle, Claude Sims, Tom Stanton, Tom Watson, Paul Winebarger, Arndt Zeller, Walt Mangold, Frank Schuler, Merle Clark, Clint Derby, Jim Faught, Bob Hunt, Laurin Cowling, Jeff Danielson, George Teves, Mavel Rector, Hugo Rintala, Hank See, John F. Cipra, Jr., C. E. "Andy" Anderson, Jim Stout, Ross Anderson, Jon DeVick, John Morris, Jon Bodine, Craig Rang, Jack Engdahl, Cort Strobel and Joyce Smith.

Of these 34, eleven were from the first year. Why there was such a drop out of first year people is beyond me. Of the remaining people, I only know one of them and that is Jon Bodine. I have been in touch with him and he says that he would like to come back some day. Jon ran in 1977 in a coupe. It was a bone stock original car right on down to the cast iron pistons. It never missed a beat in 500 miles and Jon finished with an respectable average speed of about 45 miles per hour.

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