Billy Glidden knew the risks when he signed up to be a drag racer. 

The second-generation drag racer, who is a staple in the J&A Services NHRA Pro Modified Series, received an involuntary reminder on February 22, 2017. 

Glidden, while participating in the official series test session at Orlando Speed World dragway, lost control shortly after the launch of his nitrous-injected Pro Modified Mustang and bounced off the track retaining walls. 

"I'm still a little beat up, but we’re making it, we’re getting through it," said Glidden, released from the hospital two days after the crashed. "We unloaded the car a couple of days ago, and then it’s been looked at a lot. And then we took the engine out of it on Friday. We got both engines I ran down there apart, you know just making the changes that are required and parts fixes that are required." 

The long in the tooth Mustang which Glidden has run for nearly a decade is irreparable and soon to be replaced by a former Dan Stephenson chassis, previously skinned as a Chevrolet Camaro. 

Glidden's recollection of the incident remains a combination of clear moments and blurred moments as he was rendered unconscious at the moment of impact with the left lane retaining wall. He first struck the right lane retaining wall and the errant race car shot across the track where Glidden battled to straighten his out of control vehicle. Unfortunately, he was merely a passenger at this point of the hit with the left wall. 

Glidden regained consciousness as emergency crews worked feverishly to extract him from the damaged race car. 

"At that time, I was not really with it, quite honestly. When I stopped down there I didn’t have my bearings about me at the time," Glidden said. "That hit on the left wall was pretty mean, and that rattled my cage pretty hard. I started kind of getting my wits about me, and they were already cutting the side bars out of the car. 

"I was complaining about I wanted my helmet off because I couldn’t breathe, the reason I couldn’t breathe is because I kind of beat up my ribs. They didn’t want me to take my helmet off, and I wanted my helmet off, and as soon as they turned their back, my helmet came off. 

"By that time, they were already trying to saw the top of the car off. They already had the side bars cut off the car, and they were cutting the roof off. There was not a whole lot I could have done about all that, but by then I did get my bearings about me enough that I got out and obviously got into an ambulance." 

The final injury tally included five broken ribs, bruised lungs and a previously unmentioned contusion to his right leg.

Glidden credited the emergency personnel for doing what he believed was a good job getting him out of the car and en route to the hospital. 

Glidden and wife/crewchief Shannon Glidden have inspected the car thoroughly, and have a good idea what led to the incident. 

"We had a tire test a month prior, and we had a lot of pretty mean tire shake," Glidden explained. "It looks like we fractured or cracked the wishbone slide. On that particular run, it just decided to break. We just didn’t catch it. Quite honestly, the fact of the matter is we had a part that was failing, and we didn’t catch it." 

Glidden admits his father, famous Pro Stock driver Bob Glidden, has been wide open in assisting his son in the road to recovery. 

"Dad’s Gung-ho," Glidden said. "He wants to come over and take over. He put his time in, I just really don’t want anything that we’re doing to infringe on his enjoyment of retirement. Anything we need, he’s 120 yards away, and he’ll do whatever we need." 

The outpouring of support from the drag racing community, Glidden said, came as no surprise as he's seen the goodness of drag racing fans for decades. 

"I grew up in this sport," Glidden said. "And with my mother and my father and the great support that our father had, and our mother had, and our whole family has had, and then Shannon and I have been very blessed. Being able to do this mainly on just her and I just doing the whole mess, and the support that that has gotten, I’m not surprised with it, we’re just very blessed. We’re very happy that it continues to be what we think it is." 

While there is no definitive timetable for a return, Glidden continues to go into his shop daily to prepare for the momentous occasion when he can suit up again. 

Glidden's new car is at Jerry Haas Race Cars being outfitted with a new Mustang body. In the meantime, he's going through his engines on a daily basis.  The new car will be his first-ever purpose built Pro Mod chassis, unlike the car he crashed which was originally built as a Pro Stock. 

"We’ll be back out sooner rather than later," Glidden admitted.  

Glidden understands his situation could have ended up being a lot worse. 

 "I’m just very fortunate that I’m up, walking around and able to work every day," Glidden said. "I’m on little to no pain medication. Just dealing with trying to get better."