by Mark Hutchinson
This year's Montana 500 was a thrilling event. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. With that said,
I'd like to review a little bit of Endurance Run 2002. I never got above the top 5 position (that was my starting number),
so the view will be a view from the back. We all have our own stories, but I hope you can relate to some of these events.
I'll start by saying thank you to all the people who worked hard to make this event happen in the first place.
The flaggers, trouble truck drivers, and anyone who made it easy for us to go and play with our grown-up toys
for a week! Next, congratulations to Tom Carnegie for winning the event in the men's division and to Nan Robinson
for taking the ladies' trophy. Last, I would like to congratulate the rest of us: We all finished! After all that
is the point right? With that stated, I'll start by talking a little about just getting there, cause that seems to
be half the fun.
We all seem to have our own way of preparing for the Montana 500. Our methods range from the one extreme of
tearing down the car the day after the run (mostly the winners) and tweaking it to within 500 miles of it's
death; to checking the water, oil, and battery in hopes she'll start and run better than last time. In any
case we all have our own checklist that we go through in hopes of finishing. Personally, I rode around trying
to break-in a newly rebuilt engine 'til I was blue in the face, and a few other body parts as well, only to
find that it sure ran a lot better in Washington than it did in Montana. Next year my checklist will include
a carburetor rebuild. I should have seen it coming, since Tom and I drove over to Helena and the closer we got,
the poorer it ran. While we had a short drive, some of us came from as far away as Georgia and Ohio. My hat is
off to everyone who came to this event. Well, now that you mention it my hat is off completely, having been
blown away by one of the few J gusts of wind we encountered during the second day of driving. But wait, I'm
getting ahead of myself. As we all know, we start with the Safety Inspection.
Most arrived either Saturday or Sunday in time to get our cars inspected. Tony Cerovski and Rick Carnegie
did the lion's share of the work to ensure we were all properly wired and sealed, Ruckstells disconnected,
and that we had lights, brakes, and a horn, that worked. O.K., I'll try to have the horn working by next year
as well. Rick Carnegie thought it was a little cheesy that I had to hold onto the horn and hit the button at
the same time to ground it out since it was a little loose, but given that it made a noise they let it go. In
any case how many of you honk at another driver to get out of the way anyways? I'll tell you after two years of
doing this, and having been passed by every car in both races (minus one or two), no one has ever honked at me yet!
In any case, it's on the checklist: Fix the horn! To keep this from being a stinky old race Gary Gordon passed
out ODO-BAN to anyone who would take it. Guess he likes the stuff? I believe the only car not inspected on Sunday
was Sam Nichols'; seems he would be a little late getting in.
Late in the afternoon some ominous clouds started to build to the west of the city. Tony Cervoski, a local
to Helena, said this was a pretty normal event and that we could expect a storm around 5:00 P.M. He also
stated the clouds would be pushed down the valley, circle around, and be back about 10:00 P.M. for another
go of it. What he failed to say was this storm system would not escape the valley for the next three or
four days and that this cycle would continue, pretty much up until the end of the event. Guess he was kinda
keeping that little secret to himself, not wanting to spoil our fun of discovering Montana for ourselves.
Thanks, Tony! Well, the last car passed inspection with the help of a droplight. Finally we were ready
for the first day's run through White Sulphur Springs and back to East Helena, approximately 195 miles.
Probably the most memorable thing that happened to all of us the first day was when we were handed the directions
for the upcoming three days of driving. It's amazing to me how many people over the course of a few short days
would modify these directions to their own liking, not worrying about the added time they would incur. I know
I appreciate their kindness. However, add to the checklist to ask if we are supposed to turn north, south,
left or right at the intersections posted on the directions, then write it on the paper, because I'm not
remembering things so good anymore, and it's a tough call at speed. At one of these turns, Rick Carnegie
decided to get the help of the state patrol, something about he couldn't remember if he had any felonies or not.
Apparently, according to the officer, he didn't. Now we all know. Geez, we think of the strangest things while
driving our T's don't we? Well I guess it was just an excuse he was using to give us all a thirteen-minute head start.
Thanks, Rick!