Bob Glidden was really busy Friday morning, turning the wrenches and meticulously preparing a workable combination for his driver, Justin Humphries.

Glidden, a ten-time NHRA Pro Stock champion, took time to pause for a minute during Friday's rain-drenched NHRA Gatornationals, to reflect on his experiences against a fellow champion.

Thursday marked 25th anniversary of the death of one of Pro Stock’s more prolific drivers, Lee Shepherd. Shepherd was killed in a while testing in Ardmore, Ok.

Bob Glidden was really busy Friday morning, turning the wrenches and meticulously preparing a workable combination for his driver, Justin Humphries.

Glidden, a ten-time NHRA Pro Stock champion, took time to pause for a minute during Friday's rain-drenched NHRA Gatornationals, to reflect on his experiences against a fellow champion.

Thursday marked 25th anniversary of the death of one of Pro Stock’s more prolific drivers, Lee Shepherd. Shepherd was killed in a while testing in Ardmore, Ok.

Glidden and Shepherd staged some of the fiercest championship battles dating from 1980 through 1984, and were already in the formative stages of another in 1985 when Shepherd died.

“Time has flown by so fast that it doesn’t seem like he’s been gone that long,” said Glidden, who retired from active full-time competition in 1997. “It seems like it was yesterday when we had some of those duels.”

Glidden was clearly the man to beat in 1980 when Shepherd, driving for the Reher-Morrison Chevrolet team, presented the most formidable challenge he’d encountered in two seasons of dominance. Shepherd led the points from the first race until the final round of the final 1980 race when Glidden pulled off an unbelievable victory.

Glidden has two Shepherd memories related to the NHRA Gatornationals. In 1980, Shepherd beat Glidden on a hole shot to win when both drivers ran 8.51 elapsed times.

Ironically it was Glidden who qualified No. 1 at the 1985 Gators, the first race contested after Shepherd’s passing. The NHRA staged a parade in Shepherd’s honor with Glidden relinquishing the pole position in the parade as a missing man formation to honor some mistakenly assumed was his bitter rival.

“I’d say I was more of a bitter rival with David [Reher] than I was with Lee,” Glidden said. “Lee never had any rivals. He was within his own little world and had peace within himself. When he went to the starting line, he certainly wanted to beat me. That was as far as it ever went.”

“I won’t say that some of my fondest memories was the times he kicked my a**,” Glidden continued, cracking a smile. “He did that quite a bit. But you know, I never really had a time where he and I sat down and talked because he just wasn’t an outgoing person.”

Glidden will never forget the moment he got the call telling him that Shepherd was gone.

“Etta and I were on our way to a race when we got the call,” Glidden recalled. “We just pulled off of the road and sat there for a while. You don’t think about stuff like that happening to someone you know and respect, but when it does, when it comes down to the hard knocks of life, it was tough to handle. When you’re here one day and gone the next, that’s not a good feeling.”

Nowadays, Glidden has been coaxed out of retirement to tune for a youthful Humphreys, a driver he says reminds him a bit of himself. He’s convinced that if Shepherd were still around, drag racing wouldn’t be part of his life at this time.

“I think he might have raced another four or five years, and dominated, and he would have had enough of it,” Glidden speculated. “I think by that time he would have been ready to stay at home. He would have been ready to go back to a normal life, but that’s just my opinion. I’ve thought about that a lot of times.”