Taking on the racing challenge for more than 50 years

SEELEY LAKE – As Seeley Lake's Glen Morin rolls up for his race at the Lost Creek Raceway in Anaconda, Bob Carpino Jr.'s three-year-old runs to the fence. He puts his thumb up and yells, "Good luck!" After more than 50 years of drag racing, Glen appreciates the adoration of one of his biggest fans.

However, it is more than luck that landed him a second place finish in the 2019 Super Pro Class. The need for speed and challenge of racing has kept him in the game. The camaraderie and family-friendly atmosphere at Lost Creek Raceway keeps him coming back each year.

Glen grew up six miles north of Arlee, Mont. on the family ranch. He said he and his brothers Leroy and Dean raced "tractors, cats...anything that would move."

Glen's first race was in Superior on his motorcycle when he was 14. He started drag racing in high school with his 1957 Chevy two-door wagon.

"We would put race gears in our car and drive them from Arlee to Deer Park [in Spokane]. When we got there, we'd jack them up, take the highway tires off and put the slicks on. Then we would open up the exhaust so we would make a lot more noise and take the air cleaner off," said Glen laughing at the memory.

Glen recalled a race in Lewistown in the 1980s. He hauled his car out of the weeds and brought it to the quarter mile track. As he was getting ready, there were about seven guys that went by the car.

"They just roared, laughed and pointed fingers. My kids all left," said Glen. "I made a run and then the whole group came back and said, 'Did we hear that right? You ran a 12 flat in that?' I said, 'Yeah.' They said, 'People have got more money in their transmissions than you've got in that car and they aren't going near that fast.'"

In the early 1980s, class racing switched to bracket racing when there wasn't enough racers filling the classes. Now there are Street, Pro and Super Pro classes.

Glen races in the Super Pro. In the last seven years, it has switched to also being called electronics. The Pro class is known as non-electronics. Glen said while there are cars in the Pro class that will run as fast as the Super Pro cars, they don't want to get into the electronics.

"The edge is getting into the electronics," said Glen. "My car is all electronics, everything operates with the reaction off my thumb. The rev limiter, the transmission, how it shifts, when it is going to leave, the delay box - all that is all connected together."

Glen's training includes practicing his reaction times with his delay box. He also does burnouts alongside of Glen's Automotive on Highway 83.

"My Seeley Lake neighbors have been fantastic," said Glen. "A lot of people just come out and watch."

Because Glen races in bracket racing, a form of drag racing that allows for a handicap between predicted elapsed time of the two cars over a standard distance, there is no limit to customizing his engine. While he has done and continues to do almost all of his own engine work, Jerry's Custom Engines in Missoula has also helped him.

Glen has been racing his 1923 Model T (23T) for more than six years. It is the only altered car with an open top at Lost Creek Raceway. Everyone else is in full-bodied cars or a long dragster.

"This one, with the shorter wheel base, can get a little squirrely," said Glen's wife Mary Ann and laughed. "The tower will say, 'Now people heads up. Watch him. Sometimes he goes right and sometimes he goes left and sometimes he goes straight."

"It's kind of a crowd favorite," added Glen.

Glen's 23T car takes around six seconds to run the eighth-mile track. But bracket racing isn't about speed. It is about reaction time and setting the correct dial-in time for the car.

The average reaction time for electronics is 0.025 – 0.095 seconds. In Super Pro, if a racer has a reaction time of 0.041, Glen said that is slow and the racer will usually lose the race.

"You want to have a fast car but you have to have quick reactions," said Glen. "That is the hardest thing - to have a good reaction all of the time."

The dial-in time estimates the time, to the hundredth of a second, that the car will make it to the finish line.

"If Glen goes quicker than his dial-in time, then it is just like a red light, and you are disqualified. It is called breakout," said Mary Ann.

"If I breakout that means I was cheating because the car went quicker than what I wrote in," added Glen.

A red light is leaving the line before the "Christmas tree" hits the green bulb.

"If you red light you are done," said Glen.

In Super Pro, ideally everything is timed perfectly so when Glen hits the button, he leaves as close to the green light as possible without red lighting and makes it to the end as close to his dial-in time as possible without going faster.

"Seventy-five to 80 percent of the wins are based on the reaction off the line." Glen said. "I shoot for 0.007-0.01 off the line."

Glen said factors that contribute to the elapsed time (ET) and change how the car will respond include getting a good burnout, tire pressure, barometric pressure, and adjusted elevation based on humidity and air temperature. While the adjusted elevation is a guide, it is experience that helps fine-tune the dial-in time.

"Most of the time, the car is going to run a certain ET and that is dependent on weather," said Glen. "It might run 0.02 quicker because of air. That is where you mess up."

Three times this season, Glen ran right on his dial-in time. "That is really hard to run on your number," said Glen.

Historically racers were several seconds apart.

"Not anymore," said Mary Ann. "You can win and loose by 0.001 of a second. When you are racing people and when you are winning and losing by 0.001 of a second you do it because you love the game."

Glen has red lit by 0.001 seconds. His Championship race in Super Pro this year, his competitor's reaction time was 0.001. Glen's was 0.001 but he was in the red.

"How close can you get?" said Glen and laughed. "He still had four or five rounds ahead of me so I couldn't have caught him anyhow [for a first place win in the class] but at least I could have won the last race. My dial was closer to his so I probably would have won that race if I wouldn't have red lit."

Out of 51 racers in the 2019 Super Pro Class, Rod Taylor, the two-time state champion from Kalispell, won with 415 points. Glen took second with 297 points. Bob Carpino Jr. of Butte took third with 235 points.

"I've been racing all these years and I've only gotten two second places [2012 and 2019] and a third [2017]. It's tough," said Glen. "It means a lot. These guys are good."

While the competition is good at the Lost Creek Raceway and often big racers come in and make the competition better, the Morins said the camaraderie is what keeps them coming back.

"It is such a family atmosphere," said Mary Ann. "It is a lot of people who talk the same language."

Mary Ann said they often have a potluck dinner on Saturday night and she usually makes breakfast for 10-12 racers Sunday morning. Everyone is willing to help out a fellow racer or offer suggestions. Glen being one of the only full-time mechanics, is often called on to help with the more technical problems. He never hesitates and is glad to help.

They also have a lot of fun participating in the Gambling races, Hillbilly Nationals and the Pit Car Races. In the Pit Car Races, the goal is to be the closest to 28 seconds on the 60-foot track.

"The pit car races have 60-80 entries - mini scooters, four wheelers, motorbikes, bicycles, golf carts," said Mary Ann. "It is so noisy."

Glen rides his bicycle.

"I've always used the bicycle [as my pit car] because it keeps my adrenaline going and keeps me kind of in shape," said Glen.

At 69, Glen isn't the oldest racer on the track and he said he's not done yet.

"I've got to have a first [place] and I haven't gotten the Wally," said Glen who explained a 'Wally' is the elite trophy in honor of Wally Parks who starting the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). "I've been a runner-up to the Wally but just haven't been able to close the door. I will shoot for it again next year."

The Lost Creek Raceway is a non-profit and runs solely by volunteers. They are offering a Winter Raffle that will be drawn for at the Hillbilly Nationals in Lincoln Jan. 26. Tickets are $1 each, 6 for $5 or 12 for $10 and are available at Glen's Automotive. The winner will receive a four-night stay, $1000 travel money and a neon garage pass for the Nascar in Las Vegas Feb. 21-23, 2020. There will be a second drawing for tickets to the NHRA Nationals.