2008 Montana 500 Recap by Gene Kicha

The 2008 Montana 500 initial inspection has been completed:

There are 16 endurance cars and 5 touring cars this year.

The 16 endurance runners are:

1. Garrett Green from Orange, CA.  Garrett has run several times and always runs strong.  Last year he placed second.  Garrett drives a 26-7 touring with the top up.

2. Brian "Red" Cress.  Red also runs strong.  Last time he was near the front when his crank let go.  Brian is from Bismarck, IL.

3. Joey Coniff and co-driver, Steve Lang.  Joey is from Colorado Springs, CO and is driving Steve Coniff's Redd Sledd.  The Redd Sledd (or Red Rocket) has won in the past and is usually very strong.  Joey is driving top-up this year.

4. Sheridan "Sonny" Bishop.  Sonny is a friend of Garrett Green.  As such he should be a good competitor.  This is Sonny's first year.

5. Ed Marshall.  Ed is from Burley, WA.  This is his second run.  He had a few bugs the first time out and hopefully they are ironed out now.

6. Tony Cerovski.  Tony is a Montana veteran driver.  Only Doug Langel has competed more times than he.  Tony has a new motor this year, so we will wait to see how it stacks up.

7. John Carlin from Graettinger, IA.  John is new this year.  I hope he does well and has fun.  Three of his sons are along as co-drivers.  Happy Father's day John!  John has a 26-7 Roadster Pickup.

8. Jillian Caples is from Spokane.  Jillian is driving super-fast Pinky T.  Pinky T is sportin' new 21" wires this year.

9. Tom Carnegie from Spokane, WA.  Tom is driving the "Bear Mobile" with a top this year.  Tom is a three time winner of the Montana 500.

10. Mark "Hutch" Hutchinson from Spokane is last year's winner.  He is super-strong this year too.  Hutch is also driving top-up.

11. Doug Langel has run more Montana 500's than anyone, in fact, he was on the first one in 1961!  He is a past winner and drives a 23-5 roadster with Pasco 30 X 3 1/2's.  Doug is from Rudyard, MT. 

12. Mike Robison is from Spokane.  Mike is Nan Robison's son and drives a 23-5 roadster with the top up.  Mikes T sports flames on the hood and lime green 21" wire wheels.  Mike is a former winner.

13. Rick Carnegie from Spokane is Tom's brother.  He is also Nan Robison's brother.  He is a former winner and may drive with his top up.  As of the time of this report, he hadn't decided.

14. Janet Cerovski is from Helena, MT.  She drives a purple 26-7 roadster with white upholstery.  The last few years she has been running very well and getting better.

15. Nan Robison is from Spokane, WA.  She is driving "Tweety Bird", a yellow 23-5 cut-off touring made into a roadster.  Nan is the highest placing woman in the history of the Montana 500.  She placed second in 2004 (after leading for the first two days!).  Tweety Bird is a former winning car (driven by a different driver).

16. Mike Cuffe is from Eureka, MT.  Mike is driving a 23-5 Roadster with a pickup box on it.  Last time Mike drove, he drove his 26-7 Coupe.

Inspection day update:

Sonny Bishop lost a rod test driving his car.  Someone came up with a .020 under rod, but Sonny's crank is standard.  Tom Carnegie volunteered to pull the old rod and fit the new .020 rod to the standard crank - through the oil pan without pulling the head.  Indeed he did it.  Sonny is up and going for tomorrow.

Day one:

Tony did not make it out of the starting gate.  Too much rod noise.  He has thrown in the towel.

Doug Langel lost a rod after a few miles.  Doug is out.

Red Cress lost a rod near the end of leg one.  Red is done.

Mike Robison lost his center main on the fourth of six legs.  He was running seventh at the time.  Mike is finished.

John Carlin is in 12th place.  Time: 5h 39m 3s Average speed: 40.17 mph.

Mike Cuffe is in 11th place. Time: 5h 6m 13s Average speed: 44.48 mph.

Ed Marshall is in 10th place. Time: 4h 46m 11s Average speed:47.59 mph.

Janet Cerovski is in 9th place. Time: 4:37:53 speed 49.01 mph

Jillian Caples is in 8th place. 4:32:38 49.96 mph

Nan Robison, 7th. 4:22:52 51.81 mph

Hutch Hutchinson 6th. 4:18:46 52.63 mph

Sonny Bishop 5th. 4:17:59 52.79 mph

Rick Carnegie 4th. 4:14:08 53.59 mph

Garrett Green 3rd. 4:10:40 54.34 mph

Tom Carnegie 2nd. 4:10:37 54.35 mph

Joey Coniff and Steve Lang 1st. 3:57:08 57.44 mph

Day two:

Started with Hutch's T running so poorly that he decided to park it.  Ed left his petcock open on his pan and lost his oil and a rod.  RATS! 

Joey and Steve had a bad day and lost a lot of time with timer problems.  Janet had another flat, her second of the run.  Everyone else ran great all day.

Here are the results for Day two:

Place

Car. No

Name

Hometown

Total

Average

Day 1

Day 2

1

9

Tom Carnegie

Spokane, WA

7:44:17

54.15

4:10:37

3:33:40

2

1

Garrett Green

Orange, CA

7:44:22

54.14

4:10:40

3:33:42

3

13

Rick Carnegie

Spokane, WA

7:50:16

53.46

4:14:08

3:36:08

4

4

Sheridan "Sonny" Bishop

Orange, CA

7:56:55

52.71

4:17:59

3:38:56

5

3

Joey Coniff

Colorado Springs, CO

7:56:59

52.71

3:57:08

3:59:51

6

15

Nan Robison

Spokane, WA

8:03:49

51.96

4:22:52

3:40:57

7

8

Jillian Caples

Spokane, WA

8:16:36

50.62

4:32:38

3:43:58

8

14

Janet Cerovski

Helena, MT

8:40:23

48.31

4:37:53

4:02:30

9

16

Mike Cuffe

Eureka, MT

9:26:45

44.36

5:06:13

4:20:32

10

10

Mark "Hutch" Hutchinson

Spokane, WA

9:54:52

42.26

4:18:46

5:36:06

11

7

John Carlin

Graettinger, IA

10:07:56

41.35

5:39:03

4:28:53

12

5

Ed Marshall

Burley, WA

10:17:04

40.74

4:46:11

5:30:53

13

12

Mike Robison

Spokane, WA

11:21:05

36.91

5:44:59

5:36:06

14

6

Cerovski, Tony

Helena, MT

12:24:18

33.78

6:48:12

5:36:06

15

11

Doug Langel

Rudyard, MT

12:24:18

33.78

6:48:12

5:36:06

16

2

Brian "Red" Cress

Bismarck, IL

12:24:18

33.78

6:48:12

5:36:06

Day three:

Tom had a five second lead on Garrett at the start of day three.  Basically it came down to a sudden death run of 80 miles.  Alas, Tom's lead didn't hold up.

Congratulations to Garrett Green, winner of the 2008 Montana 500!

Tom ran well, but came up about a minute short.

Rick held his place at third.

Joey and Steve moved up one spot to fourth.

Sonny moved down to fifth.  This is Sonny's first year and he did very well and his hand-fitted rod held up!

Nan Robison came in sixth and was the top woman.  Congratulations Nan!

Jillian was seventh and

Janet was eighth.

Mike Cuffe made the entire run with no problems and came in ninth.

A special notice to John Carlin.  It was John's first year and he and his three son's did a wonderful job.  I believe the whole club was tickled that you could come!  John finished every leg and came in tenth.

Hutch, Ed, Mike R., Red, Doug and Tony did not finish.

Place

Car. No

Name

Hometown

Total

Average

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

1

1

Garrett Green

Orange, CA

9:08:44

54.12

4:10:40

3:33:42

1:24:22

2

9

Tom Carnegie

Spokane, WA

9:09:27

54.05

4:10:37

3:33:40

1:25:10

3

13

Rick Carnegie

Spokane, WA

9:15:30

53.47

4:14:08

3:36:08

1:25:14

4

3

Joey Coniff

Colorado Springs, CO

9:23:38

52.69

3:57:08

3:59:51

1:26:39

5

4

Sheridan "Sonny" Bishop

Orange, CA

9:26:03

52.47

4:17:59

3:38:56

1:29:08

6

15

Nan Robison

Spokane, WA

9:32:18

51.90

4:22:52

3:40:57

1:28:29

7

8

Jillian Caples

Spokane, WA

9:46:21

50.65

4:32:38

3:43:58

1:29:45

8

14

Janet Cerovski

Helena, MT

10:08:37

48.80

4:37:53

4:02:30

1:28:14

9

16

Mike Cuffe

Eureka, MT

11:09:30

44.36

5:06:13

4:20:32

1:42:45

10

7

John Carlin

Graettinger, IA

11:52:01

41.71

5:39:03

4:28:53

1:44:05

11

10

Mark "Hutch" Hutchinson

Spokane, WA

12:38:57

39.13

4:18:46

5:36:06

2:44:05

12

5

Ed Marshall

Burley, WA

13:01:09

38.02

4:46:11

5:30:53

2:44:05

13

12

Mike Robison

Spokane, WA

14:05:10

35.14

5:44:59

5:36:06

2:44:05

14

2

Brian "Red" Cress

Bismarck, IL

15:08:23

32.70

6:48:12

5:36:06

2:44:05

15

11

Doug Langel

Rudyard, MT

15:08:23

32.70

6:48:12

5:36:06

2:44:05

16

6

Cerovski, Tony

Helena, MT

15:08:23

32.70

6:48:12

5:36:06

2:44:05

 

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