Warren Johnson, Bruce Allen, Butch Leal, Lee Shepherd, and Frank Iaconio were fighting him for NHRA Pro Stock supremacy in the 1970s and '80s. Rickie Smith, Darrell Alderman, Ronnie Sox, Wayne Gapp, Lee Edwards, and Roy Hill were trying to outduel him in IHRA competition, as well.
 
Back then, Bob Glidden constantly had to find that extra edge to run quicker and quicker, even if it was by a mere one-thousandth of a second. He had to be relentless, honing his tuning and driving skills with nearly every trip to the racetrack.
 
It paid off, in 10 NHRA series championships, including five straight, and one in the IHRA. And this man who was voted the NHRA's No. 4 drag racer of all-time still owns the NHRA record for consecutive top-qualifying positions at 23, including all 14 events in 1987.
 

Warren Johnson, Bruce Allen, Butch Leal, Lee Shepherd, and Frank Iaconio were fighting him for NHRA Pro Stock supremacy in the 1970s and '80s. Rickie Smith, Darrell Alderman, Ronnie Sox, Wayne Gapp, Lee Edwards, and Roy Hill were trying to outduel him in IHRA competition, as well.
 
Back then, Bob Glidden constantly had to find that extra edge to run quicker and quicker, even if it was by a mere one-thousandth of a second. He had to be relentless, honing his tuning and driving skills with nearly every trip to the racetrack.
 
It paid off, in 10 NHRA series championships, including five straight, and one in the IHRA. And this man who was voted the NHRA's No. 4 drag racer of all-time still owns the NHRA record for consecutive top-qualifying positions at 23, including all 14 events in 1987.
 
Today, at age 65, as he plans to skip this weekend's U.S. Nationals -- the event he has won an NHRA-record nine times -- Glidden's pleasure is not at the dragstrip but rather at the golf course. And the funny twist to it is that he claims he's a lousy golfer and has no delusions he'll get any better.
 
It sounds rather un-Gliddenish, his carefree attitude toward golf.
 
He was famous for his work ethic. He practiced his reaction times at the Christmas tree, tinkered with parts to maximize their efficiency, and tweaked his own tune-ups to win, round after round, race after race, season after season. It seemed only natural that he would embrace golf, rather attack it, in an effort to be the best he could be. Who wouldn't have expected him to study his stance, concentrate on his swing, spend hours improving his putting game, and strive to perfect all the mechanics of the sport that can be every bit as demanding as one-man-band drag racing?
 
But no, not Glidden. This is the mellow fellow, the one happy just to enjoy the scenery and get in some exercise, the otherwise-perfectly-content-to-stay-at-home Glidden.
 
"I really have no reason to go out  (to O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis), so I'd just as soon stay home," the Whiteland, Ind., resident said. "I'm not a good spectator."
 
Besides, he said wryly, "I've been there a lot of times."
 
He was in the winners circle there at the Clermont track nine times from 1973 through 1988, including four consecutive years. That's more than Don Garlits' Top Fuel mark of eight which Tony Schumacher could tie this Labor Day. It's three Indianapolis victories more than both Pro Stock nemesis Warren Johnson and the late Pro Stock Motorcycle icon Dave Schultz have had. Modern-day Pro Stock headliner Greg Anderson and former Funny Car standout Ed "The Ace" McCulloch each have five victories there.
 

Glidden, however, is not all that sentimental about the U.S. Nationals.
 
"It's been a long time. That was then. This is now," he said with a tone of finality in his voice. "I miss being around it, but when it's time to go, you should go."
 
Is he perturbed about something? "No," he said, "I'm just not involved in racing and I don't foresee that changing."
 
Aside from repairing the odd problems with his thirty-some-odd-year-old house, he said, "I just do a whole lot of nothing. It's pretty easy to keep busy, to tell you the truth. I'm busy all the time. I just kind of do whatever I want to do when I want to do it right now. I get up about 6:30 or 7, but I stay busy every day."
 
And then he has his golf outings.
 
"I beat a golf ball some," he said. "I'm a horrible golfer. I get worse each time I play. I am so weak because of all this crazy heart trouble I've had. I was never good, but I like to at least get out and play. I do (love it)."
 
Improve? That's not likely, he said: "Oh, I'm not going to get better. But I'm so bad, I can't get much worse."
 
With a blithe shrug that no one at the racetrack ever saw on one of those rare occasions when he didn't perform his best, Glidden said, "If the worst thing that happens to you is you have a bad golf game, you're still in pretty good shape."
 
Maybe it's just as well that Glidden isn't testing his heart strength with the economic climate added to a grueling 24-race schedule -- or the responsibility of tuning a car for the kind of battle he said he sees shaping up in the Pro Stock class during this year's Countdown.
 
The Pro Stock class, Glidden said, will weather the economic storm. But he sympathized with racers for whom withdrawn factory support could mean a crushing blow. Warren Johnson and son Kurt Johnson are braced for the worst. Warren Johnson is the man about whom Glidden's wife and longtime crew chief Etta recalled, "They were dead-ass enemies."
 
Still, Glidden offered this: "It wouldn't hurt the NHRA to help guys like Kurt and Warren. I think if the NHRA gets involved in getting sponsors, they'll do it for the nitro classes but not for Pro Stock." Does he think the NHRA will try to help the Pro Stock drivers? Glidden laughed at the notion. "No, I don't," he said.
 
He predicted that the Pro Stock championship will come down to four drivers: Jeg Coughlin, Mike Edwards, Jason Line, and Greg Anderson.
 
"I think it will come down to those four, but there are three or four who can affect the outcome.," Glidden said. "If Jeg has the performance (from his car) . . .  When it comes down to pressure, he's just the best there is."
 
Mike Edwards, he said, has had a performance advantage for so long. "And you can't count out Greg and Jason," Glidden said. Allen Johnson and Ron Krisher are the two Glidden mentioned as spoilers.
 
"It's going to be a very interesting Countdown this year, not only in Pro Stock," Glidden said, "but in Top Fuel and Funny Car, also."
 
He said he has noticed that second-year Top Fuel driver and points leader Antron Brown "can handle" the pressure of champions chasing him in the six-race playoff. He said Brown could win the championship -- "if they (the Matco Tools Dragster crew) can just keep their car competitive.  . . . Of course, Larry Dixon will be there. Tony Schumacher's going to be there. It's going to be a great race.
 
"And there are about six Funny Car (drivers) who could win the championship."
 
He has high hopes, he said, for contender Ashley Force Hood.
 
"I think Ashley Force (Hood) can do it. I think she would need a couple of real good breaks and then some help from her teammates," Glidden said. "What really surprises me is what a good job she does driving. I'm really amazed at what a good job she does.
 
"She is a racer," he said. "And outside of the car, she's better than her dad. She's just awesome. She gets her sponsors in there without beating them to death. And she always has something interesting to say. Her interviews are not boring at all."
 
Neither is one with Bob Glidden, the surprisingly hapless but happy golfer.
 
He doesn't move at the restless pace that defined him for 30 years as a champion driver and even more as a crew chief. He stinks at golf. Furthermore, he doesn't care if he moves slower these days and on the links with the grace a Purdue Boilermaker linebacker.
 
Glidden's fans don't mind, either. But they do feel a twinge of sadness that he's not a skilled spectator.

 

 

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