Bob Glidden admitted that he was enjoying a perfectly boring life of retirement. The ten-time NHRA Pro Stock champion had been cleared by his doctor to play golf following a rather routine heart procedure, and he was headed to Florida to play a couple of rounds.

Then the phone rang, and on the other line, Glidden said, “It was that little s***.”

That little s***, as Glidden so affectionately nicknames him, is Justin Humphreys, a low-budgeted Pro Stock driver who Glidden believes is a younger version of himself.

Bob Glidden admitted that he was enjoying a perfectly boring life of retirement. The ten-time NHRA Pro Stock champion had been cleared by his doctor to play golf following a rather routine heart procedure, and he was headed to Florida to play a couple of rounds.

Then the phone rang, and on the other line, Glidden said, “It was that little s***.”

That little s***, as Glidden so affectionately nicknames him, is Justin Humphreys, a low-budgeted Pro Stock driver who Glidden believes is a younger version of himself.

“We worked here until 7:30 last night on our junk getting ready to race,” Glidden said Thursday afternoon, prior to the first round of NHRA Winternationals Pro Stock qualifying. “I think I’m retarded more than I’m retired.”

Glidden said he couldn’t just leave the kid out on his own to enter a new season. His previous crew chief Frank Gugliotta left the team to concentrate on his business. That’s when Humphreys called Glidden.

“I told him, yeah, what the heck … we’ll do something,” Glidden said.

Then retirement was over for Glidden.

Glidden believes he’s as intense today as was back in the day when he captured four championships in the Seventies and six in the Eighties. In the 1980s, he won five titles in a row.

“I don’t know how you could do this any other way than be intense and determined,” said Glidden, who earned the nickname Mad Dog for his relentless work ethic. “You learn to control what you have control over. I learned to accept that what we’ve got is what we’ve got.”

This weekend, Humphreys is racing this weekend with an engine that he competed with last year.

“Bob Book did a real good job of coming out of the woodwork with this engine,” said Glidden. “If we can just get the car down the track, I think we will do well.”

Glidden sees a lot of himself in the youthful Humphreys, who became a Pro Stock driver after racing in Sport Compact competition. The champion brags that Humphreys gained his favor because he listens, comprehends and reacts accordingly.

“The big difference between my team back then and this one is that they have to depend on someone else for the vital part of the team,” Glidden said. “We did everything back in the day.”

The cagey Glidden sees brighter days on the horizon for Humphreys once he takes delivery of his new Ford program later this season. Humphreys will have the first Pro Stock engine program coming from NASCAR icons Roush-Yates Racing Engines.

“They won’t have a problem with the transition whatsoever,” Glidden predicted. “It might take Roush-Yates just a little time to get a grip on what we do. When they do … they have all the resources to make this program very good.”

Glidden smiles, looking forward to that day, and at the irony it took the little s*** to make happen what Ford fans have been clamoring for. He’ll be there to help Humphreys make the switch.

“I would not do this for anyone else, period,” Glidden said. “I love him, love the kids on the team and love his family. I love being around them all. He listens to me. He’s a hard-headed s***, but he does well. He’s about as hard-headed as my first son.”

Then Glidden smiled, excused himself, and went back to work, laboring away for “that little s***.”