The legend :Bob Glidden
 

From Competiton Plus
My "HERO" mad dog.

http://www.competitionplus.com/compe...of-bob-glidden

Re: The legend :Bob Glidden
 

Wow. What a legend. I remember he was at a Woodburn Pro Stock Invitational race, which they held mid-week between the Sonoma and Seattle National events. It seemed to be a casual test session type of deal for most of the teams, but not Bob Glidden. I will never forget how his pit area looked like a bomb went off. Transmissions, center sections etc laying around. When they came back from each run it was an all out thrash. Trying different combinations and never stopped working on it for a minute. It was something to watch. So different from the other teams. Dedication.

Re: The legend :Bob Glidden
 

Would like to salute Bob, & say that after meeting him @ E-town,many yrs. ago, during the summers, he had a lot of positive things to say about stk, & SS racers. He IS my hero. Thanks, Glen H.

Re: The legend :Bob Glidden
 

Thanks so much for sharing that with us Tom. brought
back a lot of memories. "The good old days " when tuning and driving
was very raw without computers and rev limiters and such. As I recall
story had that in the curly haired days Bob did that because he did
not want taking care of his hair taking any time out of his day when he
was working those horrendous hours. Always loved his humble no
excuse interviews with the great Steve Evans. Did not need
excuses often as much as he won of course.
A friend of mine recalled
after he won the race here in Denver he sat and signed autograghs
for and hour or two after the race. Really great near the end asked how
he wanted to be remembered he said family, not racing.

He seemed very grateful and
at peace with himself and his life.

Highly recommend to anyone set aside 39 minutes of
your time for the video.

Re: The legend :Bob Glidden
 

Thanks for posting this Tom. It brings back my Bob Glidden memory.
It was at the Keystone Nationals when he won his 75th race. Can't remember the exact year, think it was 1889. I had taken 2 8x10's of him sitting in his old pinto and another of his 1970 Mustang and was standing at his pit area hoping he'd come out of the trailer(It was raining.... typical for Reading). Etta came out and came to the "rope". I asked her if she'd have Bob sign the 2 prints for me. She took them inside the trailer, and a few moments later leaned out and motioned me to come in. I ducked under that rope faster than lightning and went inside the air conditioned trailer and Bob was sitting in a directors chair just kind of chilling. He asked where I'd gotten the pictures from and I told him I took them myself at the 75 Summernationals. So 14 years had passed and he said he hadn't seen that Mustang in like forever. He then asked me if I was a big Ford fan, and in my "youthful" excitement of being in the presence of a star I said no(which was true), I was a big Bob Glidden fan. He asked me why, and I replied "cause you can make anything go fast". He was qualified 4th and W.J. was 1st, and he said he hoped he had enough for him come eliminations. Very very humble man. He signed both prints with the comment "Thanks, Bob Glidden"
When he came down the return road which went by the spectator side back then after winning the 1st round, he was waving at the crowd in the stands, but it was only me he was waving to out of the thousands that were there.That's the way I feel it was like to me. So I almost fell out of the bleachers when he went on to win his 75th victory.
A little long here, but I wanted to share. I still have those pictures too
27 years later.
Walt

Re: The legend :Bob Glidden
 

Thanks for the memories. Walt, are you able to post the pictures?

Re: The legend :Bob Glidden
 

Mad Dog is Bada$$!!! Videos like this is the reason I no longer watch TV. Love the part about the nitrous and just how candid he is. Thanks for posting


And while I didnt root for them at the time because of Glidden...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukl3e38FHqA

Lee Shepherd with Reher/Morrison simply showed team work and BadA$$ driving will conquer one mans hard work. I could listen to stories about Lee all night long. Focus and dedication. RIP Lee....

Re: The legend :Bob Glidden
 

I was at Etown when Bob won his last race in Pro Stock. He was not the fastest car that race and won when Yates did not make a good run. The track really was what won the race for Bob. We were all down below the tower and Bob was with Rusty Wallace. Glidden was beyond happy and gracious and friendly to everyone. He never expected to win so it was a surprise. The place went wild when he did win. Obviously the crowd loved it. I used to see him and his family working as hard as anyone sometimes very early in the day. No other Pro guys even there yet and they were. Working in any conditions. Dirt, grass whatever. He always said things little guys could identify with. He was really just one of us like many of the early Pro Stock racers. Nobody worked harder than people like Bob and Frank Iaconio among others. Lee Shepard was a great driver and his head porting skills were also as good as it got back then. It's a shame Pro Stock has faded so badly from what it once was.....

Re: The legend :Bob Glidden
 

I had a nice chat with Bob at the Gators in the early 80s after seeing he had the same Ford CL9000 as I did, it was like hanging out with an old friend even though we never spoke before, nice guy for sure.

Re: The legend :Bob Glidden
 

Sometimes it gets lost in all the verbiage, but the significant fact is, Bob Glidden did all this (85 National Event wins) with a FORD, outnumbered by G,M, entries 10-to 1 and usually more (except for the one year he ran a Mopar 340-powered racer that nobody else ever won even ONE RACE (event) with... won the World Championship that year, too,,,)

And yet, he is so self-effacing and humble, he acts like it was all just luck....

NOBODY has luck like that... nobody.

It's for a very good reason that they called him "Mad Dog." LOL!