GLIDDEN SURPRISED BY WIN
Sun, 2009-08-09 11:30
Try to imagine this - Billy Glidden was surprised that he won the Extreme 10.5 division at the ADRL
Gateway Drags contested outside of St. Louis.
On the outside, looking at Glidden’s stats, anytime he wins shouldn’t come as a surprise considering his victory over Chuck Ulsch marked his ninth since joining the ADRL tour midway through the 2008 season. He won the title in 2008 and save for two race weekends, the second-generation Glidden, son of famed Pro Stock racer Bob Glidden, would be undefeated in 2009.
Gateway Drags contested outside of St. Louis.
On the outside, looking at Glidden’s stats, anytime he wins shouldn’t come as a surprise considering his victory over Chuck Ulsch marked his ninth since joining the ADRL tour midway through the 2008 season. He won the title in 2008 and save for two race weekends, the second-generation Glidden, son of famed Pro Stock racer Bob Glidden, would be undefeated in 2009.
Glidden has won many races this season where the competition showed a decided advantage. But in pairing with Ulsch, even a racer with the win-loss stats of Glidden would have taken notice of the opponent he faced in the St. Louis final.
Glidden did.
“He’s running a 4.01, a 4.05 and a 3.98, while we run a 4.09, 4.07 and a 4.14 … I went an .09 and he went a .98 … there’s a long way between those two numbers,” Glidden explained.
Glidden overcame the odds and ran a 4.076 elapsed time in the final round to get past Ulsch’s off-pace 4.336.
“We didn’t win because we did something special, they just had a problem,” Glidden said. “All I can do is make sure I get down the track. I can’t do anything trick or special to race against someone. What I’ve got is what I’ve got and I know that people don’t like to hear that.
“I know that everyone likes to believe that we have some kind of magic wand that we can wave around when we choose to do better. That’s just not the way it works.”
Glidden left the starting line with every expectation of Ulsch driving by at the finish line.
“I put it in fourth gear and then held on to the door so he didn’t come by and suck the doors off of my car,” Glidden said with a laugh. “Then I would have had to spend the money to get that repaired.”
Glidden’s engine woes from Topeka seem to be a thing of the past. Following that financially disastrous weekend, he went to an NMCA/NMRA event in Joliet, Ill., and tested. Knock on wood, Glidden says, the combination of his thinking with portions of newer technology has worked favorably.
He did change an engine prior to the finals, but that change was not precipitated by issues of the past.
“That engine was just worn out like the rest of my stuff,” Glidden said. “The block has ballooned out so bad that the vacuum just kept getting worse and worse. I’ve spent so much time on that engine, especially the cylinder heads that I didn’t want to ruin them. I’d rather have taken it out or not even run than to kill it.”
Roger Richards
On the outside, looking at Glidden’s stats, anytime he wins shouldn’t come as a surprise considering his victory over Chuck Ulsch marked his ninth since joining the ADRL tour midway through the 2008 season. He won the title in 2008 and save for two race weekends, the second-generation Glidden, son of famed Pro Stock racer Bob Glidden, would be undefeated in 2009.
Try to imagine this - Billy Glidden was surprised that he won the Extreme 10.5 division at the ADRL
Roger Richards
On the outside, looking at Glidden’s stats, anytime he wins shouldn’t come as a surprise considering his victory over Chuck Ulsch marked his ninth since joining the ADRL tour midway through the 2008 season. He won the title in 2008 and save for two race weekends, the second-generation Glidden, son of famed Pro Stock racer Bob Glidden, would be undefeated in 2009.
Glidden has won many races this season where the competition showed a decided advantage. But in pairing with Ulsch, even a racer with the win-loss stats of Glidden would have taken notice of the opponent he faced in the St. Louis final.
Glidden did.
“He’s running a 4.01, a 4.05 and a 3.98, while we run a 4.09, 4.07 and a 4.14 … I went an .09 and he went a .98 … there’s a long way between those two numbers,” Glidden explained.
Glidden overcame the odds and ran a 4.076 elapsed time in the final round to get past Ulsch’s off-pace 4.336.
“We didn’t win because we did something special, they just had a problem,” Glidden said. “All I can do is make sure I get down the track. I can’t do anything trick or special to race against someone. What I’ve got is what I’ve got and I know that people don’t like to hear that.
“I know that everyone likes to believe that we have some kind of magic wand that we can wave around when we choose to do better. That’s just not the way it works.”
Glidden left the starting line with every expectation of Ulsch driving by at the finish line.
“I put it in fourth gear and then held on to the door so he didn’t come by and suck the doors off of my car,” Glidden said with a laugh. “Then I would have had to spend the money to get that repaired.”
Glidden’s engine woes from Topeka seem to be a thing of the past. Following that financially disastrous weekend, he went to an NMCA/NMRA event in Joliet, Ill., and tested. Knock on wood, Glidden says, the combination of his thinking with portions of newer technology has worked favorably.
He did change an engine prior to the finals, but that change was not precipitated by issues of the past.
“That engine was just worn out like the rest of my stuff,” Glidden said. “The block has ballooned out so bad that the vacuum just kept getting worse and worse. I’ve spent so much time on that engine, especially the cylinder heads that I didn’t want to ruin them. I’d rather have taken it out or not even run than to kill it.”
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