[1]Photo Credit: NHRA
At 66 years of age, Bob Glidden will be back at Indianapolis Raceway Park this Friday competing in the class he made so popular. To the delight of drag racing fans everywhere, Glidden will be piloting Jim Cunningham’s Pro Stock Mustang at the 56th running of the US Nationals. The deal came together rather quickly after Cunningham contacted Glidden about helping out his two car team. Cunningham and teammate Erica Enders have struggled to qualify consistently for the 16 car field, so Cunningham decided to consult with Glidden on ways to improve the program.
In addition to developing the new Ford Pro Stock engine, Cunningham Motorsports has not made the full NHRA Full Throttle tour in 2010. Glidden, a talented tuner and driver, accepted the offer to drive and after a recent two-day test at US 131 Dragway in Martin Michigan, Glidden felt the car was making improvements. After 10 runs over the two day test, Glidden scored a best pass of 6.730 at 205 mph.
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Over his racing career, the Whiteland, Indiana native won Pro Stock at the US Nationals nine times. After retiring from driving in 1997, he returned to the “Big Go” driving for Steve Schmidt’s team in 1998, but he failed to qualify for the event. Glidden’s last competitive race was at the Las Vegas Street Car Nationals in 2008. At that race he drove PGA Pro Golfer Kenny Perry’s Outlaw 10.5 Grand Am and impressed the Vegas crowd with his driving skills. He qualified a respectful third in the Outlaw class but lost to Mike Murillo in the first round of eliminations.