Silver and Gold
Twenty-five years ago, a real championship battle transpired in NHRA Pro Stock
by Bobby Bennett

The 2005 NHRA POWERade Funny Car championship promises a points battle that could go down as one of the best in history. With as many as four different drivers still having at least a mathematical chance of winning the title this season, it harkens back to another down-to-the-wire championship battle that transpired nearly a quarter of a century ago.

This high-horsepower, high-stakes duel had everything required to keep drag racing fans glued to their seats. In fact, the only thing missing was today’s immediate media gratification. In fact, unless you were a subscriber to the NHRA’s NATIONAL Dragster or traveled to the races on a regular basis, you had no idea until much later that this epic skirmish had taken place.

The battle under discussion was the one waged in 1980 between defending champion Bob Glidden and past Modified stalwart graduated to Pro Stock driver, the late Lee Shepherd. This now-famous rivalry had all the makings of a Hollywood script. It was challenger versus incumbent, Ford versus Chevrolet. In a year when Ronald Reagan challenged President Jimmy Carter for the Presidency of the United States, Shepherd challenged the seemingly unbeatable Glidden for the lion’s share of the NHRA’s pounds-per-cubic inch domain.

In the end, the fight for class supremacy played out just as it was supposed to - right down to the bitter end. Many have proclaimed that this battle of factory hot rod gladiators to have been one of the greatest ever.

Only the death of Shepherd during a testing accident in Ardmore, Oklahoma, could quench the fire of this rivalry.

When it was first decided to present this story twenty five years after the fact, it was realized that most of the research material available would be limited to magazine accounts of the day and the memories of those who were there. Naturally, remembering details of the race-by-race action becomes more difficult as the years go by. The one thing memory that remains strong in the minds of those who witnessed this marathon struggle, however, is that the tension that developed between the two antagonists of the story was thick enough to cut with a knife.

Glidden entered the 1980 season hot off of one of his greatest seasons ever. Long associated with the Ford brand, Glidden came into the new decade behind the wheel of a Plymouth Arrow. He brought with him a string of 15 consecutive top qualifying efforts. Even more impressive is the fact that he had been to the finals of every Pro Stock race since the 1977 Summernationals in Englishtown, N.J.

In the other corner, Shepherd had only reached the Pro Stock finals in two outings behind the wheel of David Reher & Buddy Morrison’s Camaro. Both of his final round appearances came at the Cajun Nationals, once in 1979 and once the prior year. In both instances, his opponent was Glidden, who emerged victorious both times. Shepherd entered the 1980 season with little, if any chance, of dethroning Glidden. In fact, most observers of the day doubted that any driver in the class could offer much of a challenge to the seemingly unstoppable champion. Sheppard’s RMS team had spent lots of time and money preparing for the fray, however, and they were ready to take the fight to the man who then owned NHRA Pro Stock.

At the 1980 season-opener, the Winternationals in Pomona, the first tiny chink in the champion’s armor was seen as his streak of consecutive poles was snapped when he ended up in the No. 2 spot with an 8.50 effort. Shepherd was two spots lower in the order with an 8.52. The two eventually met in the semi-finals, but Glidden’s Arrow suffered a transmission failure and that enabled Shepherd to advance to the final. He then received a solo in the finals when Kevin Rotty also broke. This marked the first-ever national event title for Shepherd.

Later, a momentum-changing transmission failure would come back to haunt Shepherd just as it did Glidden in Pomona, but on with the story.

The tour next rolled to the East Coast for the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, and the next chapter in the story. Glidden returned to his dominating ways and as a result he qualified No. 1 one with a mark of 8.45. Shepherd was right behind him, however, his 8.48 good enough for the No. 2 position. For the second event in a row, the two went through the ladder to meet in the final round once again. If Glidden hadn’t taken Shepherd seriously before, he certainly did after the Texan drilled him on the starting line and won by an 8.510 to 8.518 margin. The RMS team had declared prior to the start of the season that they would be satisfied just qualifying for some events, and here they were now 2 and 0.

Disappointed with the factoring system and a number of other reasons, Glidden put his Arrow out to pasture after Gainesville and returned to the wars with a Ford Fairmont, the same body make that had brought him success in 1978. He picked up where he left off in the Ford and qualified on top at the next event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with an 8.43. Shepherd was off the mark and made the program with a distant 8.54. Ironically, the two met in the first round and when Glidden took a snooze on the line, Shepherd went on to win the round and eventually record victory No. 3 at the expense of Frank Iaconio.

The RMS camp were doing very well, but they knew they would have to step up their program significantly if they were to counter Glidden’s rejuvenated Ford program, which was showing lots of performance potential. For his part, Glidden knew that he had entered the Springnationals in Columbus, Ohio, with more than enough horsepower to repel the Chevrolet effort. He just had to remain focused on the job he had to do behind the wheel.

Prior to the Columbus event, the RMS team tested a new big block engine combination that yielded a record pass of 8.35-seconds at 163 mph during a points meet in Amarillo, Texas. In those days, professional teams earned points by running in divisional as well as national events. In any case, they returned to the small block in Ohio and qualified second behind Glidden’s 8.52. For the first time in the season, Glidden beat the Texans to claim a national event victory.

The challenges didn’t get easier as the NHRA Winston Series rolled into Denver, Colorado, for the Mile High Nationals. It was at this event in 1979 that Glidden had his winning streak broken, and he was determined not to let it happen again. Shepherd’s group fought intake problems all weekend but made it to the final round, only to be taken out by Glidden.

With the opportunity to earn valuable points dwindling, Glidden found himself entering Englishtown for the Summernationals nearly 3000 points behind. His two consecutive wins had done very little to chip away at Shepherd’s lead. Those who knew Glidden knew that the challenge only made him more determined.

Once again, as had been the case all season long, Glidden and Shepherd secured the top two spots in qualifying. In the end, the Summernationals crown went back to Texas thanks to a holeshot win by Shepherd.

In this era, there was no real incentive to stay at a national event and often teams would leave a national and drive all night to a divisional or regional event. Both Glidden and Shepherd traveled across the border into Canada to qualify for the Grandnational in Sanair. This time Shepherd took the pole and was trailed by Glidden. When rain forced postponement of the event for several days, however, both the RMS and Glidden camps set the highways ablaze on a 700-mile journey from Montreal to Martin, Michigan, for an event sponsored by Popular Hot Rodding magazine.

With one shot to get into the field at Martin, both drivers made it and returned to Montreal for the Saturday finals. Shepherd won the Grandnational over Glidden when the Fairmont broke at half-track. Once they returned to Michigan, Glidden returned the favor in the second round and went on to win the event.

Glidden took the time to hit every divisional and regional points event he could until he narrowed Shepherd’s lead to 426 headed into Indy. In 1980, the U.S. Nationals had special importance for a driver as the NHRA would double the points awarded. Glidden knew this was his opportunity to shine before his home crowd in Indiana and squelch the efforts of the RMS camp. The Ford driver jumped to the top of the qualifying list with an 8.43, edging out Shepherd’s 8.45 effort. Glidden once again shot himself in the foot, however, and allowed Shepherd to record yet another win.

With only two races left on the schedule, it was do-or-die time for the Glidden. For his part, Shepherd knew he had a real fight on his hands because there was no chance in the world that his rival was going to concede defeat until every round of competition had been run.

The tour headed to Seattle for the Fallnationals. Glidden was determined and scored the win as Shepherd fried the clutch on the final round run.

The scenario was simple. Shepherd had to qualify and go at least two rounds and he would be the champion. Glidden, on the other hand, had to hope that Shepherd would go out early. He then had to establish low elapsed time and top speed of the meet and win the event in order to stave off a runner-up finish.

The final event was at the now-defunct Ontario Motor Speedway, the site of the 1980 NHRA World Finals. While the majority of the field was mired in the 8.50s and 8.60s, Shepherd let the Pro Stock contingent know that he was ready to be crowned champion by scoring the pole position with an 8.43, 159.57. Glidden was not about to lay down, however, and he took the No. 2 spot with a mark of 8.46.

Both drivers won their first-round matches, and all Shepherd had to do was win the second round. That’s when the irony struck – remember the Pomona scenario? The same woes that struck Glidden’s Arrow in February nailed Shepherd’s Camaro when it counted the most. A broken Lenco transmission in the quarterfinals against Andy Mannarino opened the door, albeit slightly, for Glidden. In a miraculous finish, Glidden did exactly as he had to, setting low E.T. and top speed of the weekend and then going on to slam the door on Frank Iaconio to secure the event win and the season championship in one fell swoop.

In a post-championship article Glidden was asked to rate the competition. He was quoted in an issue of Super Stock and Drag Illustrated as saying, “He’s been like a computer. I didn’t think much about Lee throughout the year, except when it came time to race him. I think that he made the best effort of anyone as a driver this year. He did everything he was supposed to do and it seemed like every one of us that had to run him always screwed up.”

The 1980 season was the last year that Glidden would win a championship over Shepherd. How ironic it was the year that Shepherd passed, Glidden won the championship and did so for the next four seasons.  

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