Jon was full of fun.  He was a very outgoing person, the kind that is very easy to get to know.  In 1957, we were roommates in the Washington State College (now WSU) dorm.  Jon loved girls, the coed type.  We lived in Mc Allister Hall, and Jon took a job as houseboy in the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. He made some good coed connections that way.  At that time Jon (his real name was John, but he didn't care for that spelling) drove a Model T sedan.  It was a big attention getter, especially with the ladies.  He was always running around with a Model T full of them. 

Once on the way home from Pullman, Jon spotted a speedster in a farm building.  He stopped and talked to the owner, and eventually made a deal for it.  It was a very desirable Laurel speedster with all the original Laurel accessories.

We caught a crow and put it into a cage in our dorm room.  Early in the morning, at sun up, that crow would do his calling.  Jon thought the rest of the dorm needed to be annoyed along with us, so he rigged the intercom to broadcast the crow's wake up call to all of the rooms in the dorm.  The consequence of this little stunt was that I was not allowed to return to the dorm the next year!

Jon did not return to college the next year, and for a while I lost track of him.  He got married, had a son and a daughter.  He lived in the Seattle area and worked for Boeing.  In addition to the Laurel speedster, Jon had a 1926 sedan and a 1919 coupe, which I believe is the car that he drove in the 1974 Montana 500.  That was the only year that he entered, and he finished near the bottom of the pack. 

I ran into Jon at the Puyallup swap meet in the 1990's.  He had a brain tumor, which had changed his personality.  He was rather introverted and seemed to have some trouble remembering me.  It was very sad to see someone as vibrant and full of life as Jon become so withdrawn and quiet.

Eventually the cancer took him.  He passed away in 1999.  His son still has his Model T's.

Don Mc Carl was part of the group that came from Bozeman.  He ran in 1965 and 1966, which were the largest races based on the number of drivers that entered.  In 1965 there were 35 drivers and in 1966 there were 36.  1965 was the year that the route took the drivers up into Canada.  It was also during this run that Glenn Embree filmed most of the footage for his motion picture called Flying Flivvers.  Apparently this excursion into Canada caused some interesting episodes with washed out roads and such like that.  Bob Braun, who was also from Bozeman, recently told me a little story about this situation.  Because the roads had some problems, the drivers had adopted a signal (raising their hand above their head) to show when they were going to slow down for a bad spot. Don and Bob had a friendly rivalry going.  Bob's car was generally faster than Don's but Don was always telling Bob, "I'm going to catch you on this leg".  On one particular leg Don's T was running well and it looked like he was going to catch Bob.  Just as he was about to make his move, Bob raised his hand.  Don apparently thought this a trick so he continued at speed.  It wasn't, as indeed there was a big bump in the road.  As Don hit the bump he was thrown out of control and went off the road.  Bob stopped to help him and both drivers were shaken but not hurt and continued on.  Don was one of the few people that has run a touring car.  Today this exact car can be found at the home of Mark Hutchinson.  It still has the signs on the door!