1961 Sept. 13-16th
Acting Chairman: Ed Towe
Missoula to Fairview traveling Highway 20 (now 200) the entire way.
Sept. 16th. Missoula to Lincoln to Great Falls
Sept. 17th. Great Falls to Stanford to Lewistown
Sept. 18th. Lewistown to Jordan to Circle
Sept. 19th. Circle to Fairview
Advertised mileage 575 or 552. Actual mileage (based on trip planner) 540 miles.
Winner: Evan Lingle.

1961 Poster for the Race

Letter from Ford Motor Co.

Letter from H. O. Bell, Missoula

Aug. 27th, 1961 Daily Missoulian Article

Sept. 10th, Billings Gazette Article

Sept. 10th, Great Falls Tribune Article page one

Sept. 10th, Great Falls Tribune Article page two

Sept. 10th, Great Falls Tribune Article two

Sept. 13th, 1961 Great Falls Tribune Article

Sept. 13th, 1961 Missoulian Article

Fred Upshaw talks about the 1961 run.

The late Fred Upshaw was known as a great story teller. Here in his own words and voice is a description of the first Montana 500. Being a story teller, there are a few historical inaccuracies in his recollection. Since this web site is for the purpose of history, I will correct some of those errors below. This is not to take anything away from Fred’s story, he still has a great style in my book.

• The run was 540 miles, not 720.
• Fred says that he had a 15 roadster. The flubber car, which Fred drove was a 15 touring car.
• Fred says he drew 23 and Joe drew 22. Fred drew 13 and Joe drew 3.
• It’s about 80 miles from Missoula to Lincoln. Rogers Pass is between Lincoln and Great Falls.
• Kristy Towe flipped her Dad’s trailer, but they didn’t leave it in the ditch. The accident happened on the third day.
• There were rules on this race, although they may not have been too well enforced.
• The winner was Evan Lingle.
• Circle was the last night, but it was the 4th night not 3rd. 3rd night was Lewistown.
• It’s about 85 miles from Circle to Fairview.

If you have any pictures for this year, Please e-mail me. Thanx!

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The Fall Meeting of the Montana Cross Country T Association:

The meeting was called to order on October 8th 2006 in Haugen, MT at 11:00am by President Rick Carnegie. There was a motion to approve the minutes as printed in the Montana 500 Newsletter. It was seconded and passed.

There was a call for nominations of the President. Mike Robison and Mark Hutchinson. were nominated. There was a motion to close the nominations. It was seconded and passed. The votes were tallied and Mark Hutchinson is the new president.

The meeting was turned over to Mark Hutchinson.

Mike Robison was nominated as Vice President. There was a motion to cast a unanimous ballot cast for Mike Robison as Vice President. It was seconded and passed.

Janet C. asked to remain treasurer. There was a motion to cast a unanimous ballot forJanet Cerovski as treasurer. It was seconded and passed.

Jillian C. was nominated as secretary. There was a motion to cast a unanimous ballot for Jillian C. as secretary. It was seconded and passed.

Directors were nominated and voted on. The Club needs to replace Doug Langel and Gary Ebbert as directors. Doug Langel was nominated to maintain his position as a director. It was seconded and passed. Doug Langel is now a director.

Dave Robison was nominated. There was a motion to cast a unanimous ballot for Dave Robison as director. It was seconded and passed.

The list of Directors includes:

Rick Carnegie 2007
Tom Carnegie 2008
Janet Cerovski 2009
Tony Cerovski 2007
Nan Robison 2008
Mark Hutchinson 2009
Dave Robison 2007
Doug Langel 2008
Mike Robison 2009

Old Business: Ed Marshall requested that we extend his allowance for his emergency brake handle to be on the outside of his body for next year’s race. It was seconded and passed.

We had tabled the valve seat port size discussion until this year, so we started the discussion again. Rick Carnegie moved that we go with the size of the blueprints for the gauge. There was no second.

Tom Carnegie thinks that we should give .010 from the blueprint. Rick Carnegie thinks we should have a go gauge as the blueprint and a no go gauge as .010 from the blueprint. The gauge will be flat on the sides to accommodate oval holes. There was more general discussion on the matter. Ed Marshall asked why we need this gauge because we have a carb gauge, a port gauge, and a value gauge.

Tom Carnegie would hate to disqualify someone because of a few thousands; he wants to error on the sides of the angels. There was a motion to table the discussion on the valve seat gauge. It was seconded and passed.

Tom Carnegie made a motion to nominate Rick Carnegie. to be in charge of the gauge for the next year. A gauge will be made to see how is goes this year, but it will not be a rule yet. The gauge will have flat sides.

New Business: Mike Robison. wants to have an addition to a rule change. On the carb specs, it says nothing about the choke or throttle shaft. There was discussion. There was a motion to clarify a rule: to state that choke and throttle shaft size must be uniform stock dimensions with an allowance for shaft wear. There will be a visual check done at the race. Some wear is acceptable, but no obvious changes are allowed. The motion was seconded and passed.

Tom Carnegie made a motion that a line be added to the checklist that is signed at inspection that states the inspection at the beginning of the race is a courtesy inspection. It was seconded and passed.

Frank Fenton wants the club to become a chapter of the Model T Ford Club International. It won’t cost the club anything. Directors do not need to be members. The insurance is the same for the clubs, so we won’t double up. It will get more exposure for the club. We are going to table the discussion for a while, so everyone can read through the materials presented.

Ed M. says that he is uncomfortable with the fact that if you finish, you may end after someone who didn’t finish. A DNF person may have higher ranking than someone who finished the whole race. There was a motion to show, when the list is in public view, the order of finishers first, then all those who were trailered be placed below. The number of finish would stay the same, just the list order would differ. There was a second and the motion failed.

There was a motion to change the order of the flag out at the race. The motion is to have the cars go out on the first day lot ascending, lot desc ending on the second day, and by a drawing on the third day. There was no second. The motion was withdrawn.

There was a motion to flag out in 15 or 30 second intervals . There was no second. The motion was withdrawn.

Ed Marshall. made a point of discussion. In the route, he would like cones where you turn. It is hard to do and you have to check with the state before you can do it.

It was discussed that we would give out times the next day as opposed to the night when we come in.

We returned to the discussion of the MTFCI Chapter. It was noted that the club only needs five members to be members of the MTFCI to be a chapter. Tom Carnegie made a motion that if that is all that it takes to be a chapter, we will join the MTFCI. It was seconded and passed. Five members agreed to become member of the MTFCI: Tom Carnegie, Nan Robison, Mike Robison, Jillian Caples, and Mark Hutchinson.

Route: Places mentioned were: Havre, Thompson Falls, Fort Benton, and Miles City. We flipped a coin between Havre and Thompson Falls and Havre is where the race will be held in 2007. There was a motion to have the Montana 500 in 2007 out of Havre from June 17th through the 21st. It was seconded and passed.

Old Business: (cont) Tom Carnegie asked what happened to the committee to get Don Engleman to transfer his videos to dvd. The club will pay for them. Rick Carnegie. said he has done nothing, but will.

There was a treasurer’s report passed around. Doug Langel will find a host hotel and a tear down place for us in Havre.

Nan Robison said she will take the newsletter for one year and do four issues. She needs a membership list from Janet Cerovski and wants Tom Carnegie to help her get started. The minutes will be put in the newsletter.

An email list was sent around. If anyone wants to be on the email list, but was not at the meeting, please send an email of your preferred address to modeltbabe@yahoo.com

October 14th, 2007 will be the date of the next meeting. It will be at 11:00am at a place that the President picks. There was a motion to adjourn the meeting at 12:46pm. It was seconded and passed.

June 21st-23rd 2004
Day 1. Eureka to Kalispell – Kalispell to Happy’s Inn – Tour to Libby due to construction – Libby to Eureka – total for day: 182 miles
Day 2. Eureka to Libby on East side of Lake Koocanusa – Libby to Yaak – Yaak to Idaho border then back to Libby – Libby to Eureka on West side of Lake Koocanusa – total for day: 253 miles
Day 3. Eureka to Whitefish and back – scrapped due to construction
Total miles: 435
Last year of the restrictor plate.

*cast iron pistons, voluntarily ran with restrictor plate

June 23rd-25th 2003
Day 1. Bozeman to Big Timber to Harlowton to White Sulphur Springs to Bozeman – 242 miles
Day 2. Bozeman to Three Forks to Ennis to Whitehall to Bozeman – 187 miles
Day 3. Bozeman to Three Forks to Bozeman – 61 miles
Total miles: 490

*cast iron pistons, voluntarily ran with restrictor plate

June 17th-19th 2002
Day 1. E. Helena to White Sulphur Springs to Townsend to E. Helena – 195 miles
Day 2. Helena to Choteau to Helena – 191 miles
Day 3. Montana City to Cardwell.  Wheat to E. Helena – 114 miles
Total miles: 500

*finished without restrictor plate
**cast iron pistons

June 18th-21st 2001
Day 1. Kalispell to Eureka to Libby to Kalispell
Day 2. Kalispell to Seeley Lake to Kalispell
Day 3. Kalispell to West Glacier to East Glacier to West Glacier to Kalispell

2000 June 19th-22nd
Day 1. Great Falls to Havre to Great Falls
Day 2. Great Falls to Vaughn Jt. to Choteau to Valier to Great Falls
Day 3. Great Falls to Shelby