Great Drivers Bob Glidden

maybe someday going to their boss and using the old Johnny paycheck line take this job and shove it hi I'm Brock Yates and welcome to the great drivers today we're going to meet a man who did something like that not quite but he did spend the first 30 years of his life sort of resolved working a nine-to-five job like the rest of us but then he took his hobby and transformed it into a full-time profession and went on to become the winningest drag racer of them all a man who's won 46 national events and six NHRA World Championships join me today as we meet the man who literally lived a dream Pro Stock champion Bob lemon in 1985 Bob Lydon achieved an unprecedented sixth National Hot Rod Association national championship in the highly competitive Pro Stock ranks the same year he said both ends of the record establishing a low elapsed time of seven point four nine seven seconds as well as a new top speed mark of one hundred and eighty six point eight seven miles an hour he also won the most important drag race of them all the US Nationals for the seventh time his total win record of forty six national events at the end of that season is more than any other driver in the history of the sport the son of an Indiana sharecropper glidden's mechanical ability grew from the necessity into a passion as a teenager he was a hot rod around his hometown of hwhiteland Indiana when he met his wife Etta the two then began racing on weekends often returning with as much money in prizes as they made from their regular jobs at an Indianapolis automobile dealership Bob and his family race team turned professional in 1972 embarking on a winning career unequaled in the history of the sport he lives with wife Etta and sons Billy and rusty in hwhiteland Indiana only a hundred yards away from his beautifully equipped race shop Bob you know I guess all of us who watch your race sort of imagine a race driver like yourself from in the race car at the racetrack waving at the fans winning races all that glory stuff but I would think for a guy like yourself a whole lot of time is spent right here how much percentage in hwhiteland in the shop versus at the racetrack that would really be hard to establish we spend endless hours in the shop especially in the winter time to before races doing R&D work trying to come up with that extra five or eight or ten or twelve fifty horsepower that we need to be more competitive during the summer ice creams from Monday to Thursday day and night in this job Satori's in the next weekend so I guess in the end I'd say we spend on maybe sixty seventy percent of our time in the shop instead of out there in the old racetrack so you're you're really bent over a workbench morning are bent over his steering wheel really in the shop of myself I normally been over a driving driving on silver edge suppose my sons and it are doing whatever R&R and the engines taking engines apart putting pieces together getting engines on the dynamometer there's so many things that go on within the confines of the shop that it's really hard to imagine being an outside person looking in of what does go into one of these Pro Stock race cars unbelievable with you it's kind of funny I see this brand new Thunderbird it's really been I don't think I can recall another great driver that we've had on the show that has been so tightly linked to a brand you've been really a Ford guy almost right from the start Jarrod Drive anything else well we did for a season for odd reasons but from 1962 until now really we've been Ford racers as a kid I saw the the advertisements on TV and heard it on the radio Ed Martin home of the fast Fords and I bought a Ford and and began racing it forward as a young man and it just went on and grew and grew and grew until it became what it is today which is something else I'll tell you I'd like to spell a little bit more time talking about maybe we'll talk a lot about Ed Martin and how he was involved in your early career days and of course that in the family we'll be back with more Bob then the great drivers well Bob you not only build a pretty super race cars but you'd do a good job with a fire too a lot of practice in that area well in the 20 below zero winners we do use the fireplace sometimes we're not we spend most of our time in to shop in the winter doing R&D work but when we're at home we do like to watch television watch the IU ballgames and set around the fireplace you're up this is really a hometown deal for you you've been born and raised here in hwhiteland is right absolutely I grew up in this area which school at Whiteland went through high school at the same high school my kids have gone through so this is a really our home and just a as a matter of fact I think on the sign as you come into white and says Whiteland Indiana home of Bob Glidden six-time world champion that's right that's kind of a hometown boy makes good deal it kind of makes you proud I would imagine very much so Bob Bob I know your dad was was in farming and and in the moving business and that sort of thing but most guys in in the sport can usually link up somewhere in their past to a moment or a situation that the kind of got him started triggered them in an interest in racing and high-performance cars on one thing I know do you remember anything in your background that kind of said I want to do that or I like those deals that's very interesting that you'd mentioned that yeah and that's really a long story as a kid I grew up on the farm and worked on farm tractors and equipment and as I got through high school drag racing that became a hotbed around Indianapolis with the companies involved and I heard on TV and on radio advertisements about Ed Martin Ford the home of the fast Fords and I wanted to look into this and see what it was all about so I went to a drag race and it looked interesting to me so I bought up at that time a new 1962 Ford with a big engine and a performance car and raced it on the weekends and Etta and I did that as a hobby for some time and it just worked its way up and into what it is today what is it about drag racing what is the core interest free you know especially I maybe of course I'm partial but in the pro stock thing you've got the competitiveness against other drivers and I guessed other brands you know it's it's us the forwards against the general motors the Chevrolets the Pontiacs just against beer and Morris and it's us against Warren Johnson and we're not so much that way away from the racetrack but at the racetrack it really makes you want to go down and do your best and win you win races by hundreds of a second constantly you every and the idea that though that you've always stayed with with the Ford product I find interesting was that was incidental because of the Ed Martin I know you worked with him for a long time well is it is it more than that we worked with Ed Martin for to work for Head Martin Ford for i think 11 years and we became more familiar with the Ford engines and so on than anything else so the longer we raced afford the more we became Ford racers and not other brand racers and a few years ago we became more involved with the corporation with Ford or with some of the people involved with Ford and there really hasn't been any reason for me to think about any other brand or think about racing another bred when I open the show I said that you in a lot of ways were exemplary of a kind of a dream come true a lot of guys I would imagine are working in car dealerships around the United States right now and maybe wishing that they were like Bob Glidden that they could move into the end of the field what what was it what was the moment that I know it was a race but what happened when you said hey we're gone your wife at it we're gonna go we're turning pro we're gonna make our living doing this well we went out of Superstock I believe in 1972 and bought our first pro stock car we went to the race in late 1972 with the whole rig the car the truck we bought the whole Matheson in Ontario California and at that race we were runner up in other words we were second place in the race and at that time it was just a professional race for Top Fuel funny car and pro stock and runner up at that race paid a little over $11,000 and we had about 20 invested in the whole mass everything we had so when we got home we gave it a couple of weeks to let the excitement your way and finally decided and made the decision to make drag racing our business instead of working the weekly job but it was a big decision and it was a hard decision to make first of all Etta thanks for joining us I understand that you actually designed this whole house is that correct yes I'd ripped the floor plan and then had an architect put it to scale and then that Bob build it and build it we were talking a little bit earlier about the moment then I'd like to kind of set the stage as Bob described it when you were at Ontario he had been runner-up in a major pro stock event you and he are probably one of the few husband and wife's racing teams I suppose that are really that successful but still you're both as I understand working at ed Martin Ford is that right both of you got a young son bill still semi-professional and yet at that moment you decide to make the break and turn pro I tell me a little bit in your words how that exactly happened where was that what was the moment when you made the decision coming home or when he got home um I really don't know exactly when the moment was we just talked about it and finally just made an agreement that this is what we're going to do if you're going to stay in the racing program we can't continue on the road we're on right now so it was either make the move up or move out what was how did that a fit into the into the actual racing operation at that time bob was she working as full-time as she is now well no neither of us did we worked a an honest full day job five ashlee five and a half days a week and the racing was a part-time or a hobby type situation and we we both contributed but nothing like it is today and etta about add in those days about anything I wanted to do I think Etta would have done a long with him we discussed it and we thought we could make it in the world of racing so we decided to give it a shot that was a pretty gonna play did you ever look back on it what it I would have had a second thought you know a lot of young people especially when he had a good career building you were both making good money and you had some responsibilities says it must have did you ever have any second thoughts about it after that no not after we actually made the decision and made the commitment I don't think we had any second thoughts it was about a two-week period where it was kind of iffy with the the fact that we had children and trying to end bills to pay and then wandering from the very beginning are we going to be able to survive now at that point in time we were living from paycheck to paycheck and racing whenever we could afford to but after we actually made this step I think it was a fact that we both made a total dedication to we are going to make this work that's extraordinary data what do you do uh I know I've seen you many times of the races I've talked to you a lot of the races and I know you're in there doing as much as bob is doing what are you doing it described your day to me I know you've got responsibilities in the house and then are you in the shop with him or do you come over a little bit later or how did how does your date go well I suppose we get up here around 6:30 7:00 o'clock go to the shop drink coffee discuss what we're going to do for the day and what the goals are and what has to be done I go to the post office do my paperwork and then anything that needs to be done in the back I'm there I chase parts basic basically mine is just kind of a job of all around whatever needs to be done can you work some of the big machinery uh yeah run some of the big machinery before uh sometimes successfully sometimes not well Edinboro has really changed a lot in the past couple of years since bill our oldest son has gotten out of school and become a full-time employee at the shop he has taken over a lot of her roles in the shop the business has itself become a lot bigger and her job in the office has taken a lot more of her time to taking care of the business the paperwork talking to sponsors just being an intermediate between out the business the corporation and and the people and the sponsors that we deal with it's really become a pretty complex little business unto itself and I mean it's got all the ass ramifications of a big operation except it's really the four of you that are handling all of it it is really hard because there are we do have sponsors there are fans they pay to come and see us race and you can't ignore them and someone has to take the responsibility to see that the fans are treated courteously sponsors are taken care of they deserve a certain amount of courtesy and on top of all of that you have to remember that this is a an operation that where he's going a lot of mile an hour a lot of speed everything is increasing not only everybody's responsibilities but the speeds safety everything has every detail Kent has to be done you can't leave anything undone not with him strapped in the car and I think that's the most important thing now is everybody seeing that their job is done you two must be a terrific team because you seem to attend to every detail I mean the race the race team as I see it is probably as buttoned up in operation as you'll find in any kind of Motorsports and it has to be one of you two is are you both really detail-oriented or is one or the other more thorough well I think everyone even our sons included sees their role and tries to do their part to take care of their end of it or their role of the racing program Anna knows what she is supposed to do I know basically what I'm supposed to do and the boys know what they're supposed to do and everyone has been doing a pretty good job the proof is in the pudding as the year ended we had a good season so this season I think everyone did a very good job of taking care of their end of the business had a 22 years married to this rascal and I've got a feeling that cars have always been part of the deal is that right yes including our first date we spent the afternoon working on his race car and then went racing that evening how about yourself did you overdrive yes I drove for three years in Superstock but I drove for fun and when we moved to the professional ranks I had no desire to be a driver and I enjoy what I'm doing now let me ask you both I'll start out with you Bob now you've got a another generation of boys that are very integrally involved in this in this operation rusty and Bill uh Woodard I know that you're thinking ahead I mean you're you two are not that successful without some long-range thoughts what where where is glit and racing going in the future well I think that a lot of that depends on the boys and their attitudes and their ideas and and they have to someday decide whether they want to be involved as dedicated as you have to be and until they make that decision I really don't know he'll do as either one of them profess to any desire to raise to drive a rusty would love to drive as long as he didn't have to work like a typical kid and who knows it may work out that way someday I think bill would like to have a hand or at least try to drive but that may not be his bag he he is successful at the engineering and the engine work and maintain the car so they may have a race team someday one of them driving and one of them being the crotchet what do you think about that mom that's kind of the way I've always seen it I think Rusty's more driver material Billy is very serious very conscientious and I think he's more work oriented than resting you wouldn't have any problems I know that these cars are started driving a park anymore they're they're pretty tricky to drive dirty do you have any concerns about having your son to us I think our kids have grown up in this profession and they have seen a lot and I think they're pretty knowledgeable overall then it sounds as if Glidden racing especially with you two and other boys coming on is headed for yet more World Championships I'll tell you what it's been great for you to let us come into your house today and we sure appreciate your hospitality I hope we I know we'll see you down the road at one of the races real soon thanks for having us okay thank you Ron we had a good time thank you and thank you for joining us today on the great drivers with Bob and had a Glidden I'm rocky eggs

Channel: Steve Klemetti

Views: 53,895

Rating: 4.8828125 out of 5

Keywords: Bob Glidden (Person), Auto Racing (Sport)

Id: RL3O36LQNoU

Length: 20min 22sec (1222 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 06 2015