If you were in the Glidden Family you had three key traits. You worked hard. You won. Then you won the NHRA U.S. Nationals... and you did that a lot. The Gliddens won Indianapolis and if they didn't win the event, they at least reached the final round. If you were going to beat the family from nearby Whiteland, Indiana, you had to do it on the money run. 

Bob Glidden won his first U.S Nationals title in 1973 and again in 1974 and added two at the end of the decade for four in the 1970s. He didn't win another until 1983, but that hardly mattered as he reached the final in every Big Go in the 1980s. Consider this: from 1977 through 1989, Glidden went to 13 straight Indy final rounds.He has the most of anyone at nine wins. 

Former Pro Stock racer and family crewman Billy Glidden remembers the family's approach every time they loaded up the track and went down the street to Indianapolis Raceway Park, the crown jewel of drag racing events every Labor Day.

"It was more intense than it was anything else," Billy said. "I can remember Dad and I would do cylinder heads together, and we would flow every single port. When he'd touch up the valve job, I'm talking tens of percent, if on the flow bench, a hole was one or two numbers down from another hole, we just kept working on it until it wasn't. I remember honing the block, just spending so much time getting blocks honed just to what Dad felt would've been the very best and making sure all the engines were as nice as they could be, at least three of them to get through the week.

"[Indy} was more about preparation, and once we put it all in motion, the actions were more intense towards the battle than it was excitement of the race. Going to the race was the easy part."

In those days, the second-gen Glidden remembered being agile enough, and he often took one for the team to ensure they had the best opportunity to win. In a day and age when Pro Stockers seemed as endless as the sky, he did his best to help the family get the best opportunity in qualifying, which set the pace for the marathon week. 

"There were no set times for qualifying; it was as many attempts as possible," Billy recalled. "They'd only run so many cars at a time. There were 40, 50, and 60 Pro Stock cars back then. It was who got into staging early enough in the morning to get the good session, and nobody was allowed to stay at the track. I remember going out there at 3 AM, being thrown over the fence, unloading a car, and pushing it to the staging lanes."

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All the racers jockeyed for the early sessions when the atmospheric conditions would make up for the track prep, or lack thereof. Billy recollected that maybe a third of the Pro Stockers would get an attempt in the good air, and then it gravitated towards the nitro cars, which took up the good air and time. 

"You'd probably get about 20 Pro Stockers, and that was about it, and then it got rough after that point," Billy recalled. "We'd get our good run in and then work on our racing conditions runs."

The Gliddens' actions might seem extreme to some, but to Billy, this was just the way the family did it. They were hellbent on winning and willing to work as hard as they needed to to achieve the ultimate goal. He had been going to Indy as long as he'd been alive. His easiest recollection was watching his mother and team crew chief Etta beat Bob in Super Stock eliminations. 

To them, winning was expected, but not because they felt anyone owed them anything. The Gliddens felt as if they had worked hard enough to make it their result. 

"Every time you won, it was a lot of excitement, but in drag racing, your celebration is pretty short-lived," Billy said. "It's just that whole hour or two after you've won, and then you're back to work. That's probably still true even today for the teams that are doing it on a full-time basis. You get to celebrate it for a little bit, and then it's time to be serious and ready, getting ready for the next one. That's physically and mentally."

While Indianapolis is revered by race fans and to the Gliddens, hours after the victories, there was another race to prepare for on the way to another championship.

The Gliddens had legions of family and friends there, but as Billy saw it, there was a job to be done, which often didn't offer much time for socializing. He is adamant that they were there to win, not make friends. 

"We had a lot of family come out, and I knew people that were there to cheer us on; I was more serious about doing my jobs rather than socializing," Billy said. "There was definitely home court advantage."

Glidden surmises that some like to call the Glidden Family's domination magical, but as he sees it, the harder they worked, the more magic happened. 

"Dad was very intense, and he was all about winning the races," Billy explained. "I certainly picked that up myself. This is back when you were trying to make a mark as well, back when there were opportunities for sponsorships, but you had to be the strongest to be one of the people to get those opportunities. Dad was, it was all business."

And for the Gliddens, winning Indy was a family business that delivered year after year.