Noted ESPN analyst Chris Berman used to refer to former NFL great Cris Carter as one who, “All he does is catch touchdowns.” While it’s likely that Berman will never commentate on an ADRL Extreme 10.5 race, one could only imagine what he’d say about Billy Glidden.

Glidden, who has legitimately only lost one race in ADRL competition in two seasons, may not catch touchdowns on the football field but his actions in drag racing could easily fill a highlight reel.

Friday night at U.S. 131 Dragway in Martin, Mich., the second-generation Glidden, son of ten-time Pro Stock titlist Bob Glidden, showed why he will go down in drag racing as so much more than just a legend.

Second-generation superstar extends round wins to 20 consecutive …

Noted ESPN analyst Chris Berman used to refer to former NFL great Cris Carter as one who, “All he does is catch touchdowns.” While it’s likely that Berman will never commentate on an ADRL Extreme 10.5 race, one could only imagine what he’d say about Billy Glidden.

Glidden, who has legitimately only lost one race in ADRL competition in two seasons, may not catch touchdowns on the football field but his actions in drag racing could easily fill a highlight reel.

Friday night at U.S. 131 Dragway in Martin, Mich., the second-generation Glidden, son of ten-time Pro Stock titlist Bob Glidden, showed why he will go down in drag racing as so much more than just a legend.

Glidden nursed a wounded engine all the way to the No. 1 qualifying position at the ADRL Ford Drive One Summer Drags and with some proverbial duck tape, bondo, and a wing and a prayer, kept his 404-inch Ford together long enough to win the rain-delayed final round Memphis Drags. The victory was the seventh career ADRL title for Glidden.

The triumph also marked Glidden’s 20th consecutive round win in competition, the longest running streak in ADRL competition, by defeating Jeff Naiser in the rescheduled final round.

Glidden points out matter-of-factly that what he’s doing is not rocket science.

“I just work a lot trying to find a little bit of power,” Glidden said. “I’m working with Brandon Switzer at Speedtech a little bit. We have some new parts and pieces on the car.”

Earlier during Friday’s practice he hurt his primary powerplant.

“Did it on the first 4.10,” Glidden admitted. “We’ve been crunching it and I really can’t believe it made it this far. It’s hurting.”

Glidden told CompetitionPlus.com that overnight he planned to install a new and equally potent engine for Saturday’s marathon competition.

“I didn’t take the engine out after Memphis, but I did take parts off and work on it,” Glidden said. “I’d say the engine we are putting in is about equal to the one we ran on Friday.”

The new and fresher combination could be hateful to the competition considering Glidden limped the old mount to a 4.099 elapsed time.

“I didn’t expect to go to the top,” Glidden confided. “I’m optimistic about our changes. I was tickled about the 4.10 until I saw what it did to the engine. Look at the windshield, it wasn’t happy. We are on to something here. We are making such wild changes at home that it is a brand new learning curve at each race.”

Advertisement