Billy Glidden really didn’t want to make a run.

Almost four seconds later he was glad he did – 3.976 seconds to be exact.

Glidden, making an exhibition pass at the request of the ADRL and Rockingham Dragway’s track management for the local Chamber of Commerce, recorded his first career three-second pass just hours before official qualifications were scheduled to begin for the ADRL Dragstock VII.

“Those who were standing out there on the line knew how tough the conditions were,” said Glidden, a past ADRL series champion. “But, it’s like a Catch 22 situation.”

Though Glidden didn’t have any prior experience of what a three-second run should feel like, he know from the time he dumped the clutch his Mickey Thompson Tires-sponsored Mustang was on a good pass.

Billy Glidden really didn’t want to make a run.

Almost four seconds later he was glad he did – 3.976 seconds to be exact.

Glidden, making an exhibition pass at the request of the ADRL and Rockingham Dragway’s track management for the local Chamber of Commerce, recorded his first career three-second pass just hours before official qualifications were scheduled to begin for the ADRL Dragstock VII.

“Those who were standing out there on the line knew how tough the conditions were,” said Glidden, a past ADRL series champion. “But, it’s like a Catch 22 situation.”

Though Glidden didn’t have any prior experience of what a three-second run should feel like, he know from the time he dumped the clutch his Mickey Thompson Tires-sponsored Mustang was on a good pass.

“When I got the thing into third gear and it didn’t dance around on me, I knew it was going to be fast,” Glidden admitted. “You know it’s fast when you shut off at the eighth-mile and you get to the quarter-mile in a hurry.”

He wasn’t going so fast as to miss one important element of the run.

“Oh, I saw the scoreboard,” said Glidden with a smile, who believes the hard work he’s put towards a new combination is close to yielding the big dividends.

“Like I said in St. Louis, if we keep on working and refining this combination, we are going to get competitive out here,” Glidden said. “I have two of these old dinosaur engines and I’ve worked on them a lot.”

This momentous run was the first lap following a successful test session at U.S. 131 Dragway in Martin, Mich.

“And we were very happy when we left there,” Glidden added.  

The run was not made during qualifying or eliminations at an ADRL event and therefore does not count toward inclusion in the Mickey Thompson Three-Second Club for XTF.

Glidden readily admits he’d love to have the historic place in drag racing history but won’t race to the lanes to get a better shot at running a three within the parameters of the club.

“We’ll just take things as they happen,” Glidden confirmed. “My goal is to win races and ultimately that last race of the season. That’s the goal. We certainly didn’t throw anything away with this run.”

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