The Montana 500

Top One Hundred Finishes

by Tom Carnegie

There have been 1000 entrants in the Montana 500 to date. Of those 1000, 80% have finished without being disqualified. The routes are different each year, and restrictor plates were used for a while, so comparing average speeds from year to year is somewhat meaningless. Still, it can also be somewhat interesting. I have compiled a list of the top 100 times in the Montana 500, based on average speed. The information that I used to compile this list is a bit sketchy at times, but overall I think it has some validity. Below are the top 100 finishes by driver.

9 Top 100 finishes: Terry Peters
7 Top 100 finishes: Tom Carnegie, Bud Peters
6 Top 100 finishes: Jim Halseth
5 Top 100 finishes: Doug Langel
4 Top 100 finishes: Ed Delzer, Ray Habel, John French, Scott Rawlings
3 Top 100 finishes: Garrett Green

2 Top 100 finishes: Dick Bergan, Rick Carnegie, Steve Coniff, Norm Eberhardt, Ed Hencz, Mark Hutchinson, Frank Iverson, Dave Meuli, Tillman Oblander, Al Rieker, Mike Robison, Nan Robison, Floyd Rossell, Chuck Worthington, Dutch Watters.

1 Top 100 finish: Sonny Bishop, Tony Cerovski, Mel Chapman, Joey Coniff, Dennis Dakan, Gary Ebbert, Don Englmann, John Frick, Clay Habel, Cliff Hellwig, Perry Mathews, Ron Miller, Sam Nickol, John Pope, Dave Ratzburg, Fred Upshaw, Hal Wilson.

24 of the top 100 finishes took first place - 20 second place - 16 third - 12 fourth - 10 fifth - 7 sixth - 4 seventh - 3 eighth - 2 ninth - 2 tenth - 1 eleventh.

The year with the most top 100 finishers was 1977 with 11. Bud Peters came in eleventh that year, Tom Carnegie came in first.

Everyone who placed on the list more than twice has won at least once, except John French, whose best finish was second place. Of those who placed twice or less, Sonny Bishop, Tony Cerovski, Mel Chapman, Joey Coniff, Gary Ebbert, Don Englmann, Clay Habel, Ed Hencz, Sam Nickol, Tillman Oblander, Al Rieker, Floyd Rossell, Fred Upshaw, Hal Wilson and Chuck Worthington never won (or have yet to win).

No cars before 1970 were in the top 100. 23 of the top 100 were cars that ran with restrictor plates.

The lowest speed on the top 100 is 50.83 MPH by Scott Rawlings. The highest speed is 54.12 MPH by Garrett Green.