There were two Pro Stock Pontiacs bearing significant Mickey Thompson Tires signage on their sides competing at the Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals, but neither were actually running the tires, nor are they likely to at any time in the near future.  Matt Scranton, a former Sport Compact racer of some renown, is driving a GTO that came out of the Greg Anderson/Summit Racing camp (and first competed at this year’s Gatornationals), with a second car being piloted by Bill Glidden, son of the 10-time Winston champion, Bob.

Jason Moulton from M/T Tires told Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com that “what we’re here to do with this new car (indicating Glidden’s silver GTO) is shake it down and get as much data as we can.  Billy lives close to Indy, and it’s a little bit of an extracurricular activity, but we’re thinking we’ll be able to learn something and get our car ready to do our development program.

Moulton admits that the company is far from ready to introduce a new tire for Pro Stock, but that’s definitely their goal.  “It’s going to be in the near future,” was as far as he appeared willing to go.  “We don’t have our timeline figured out yet for the development of the big tire, but I know it will be soon.  Mickey Thompson has been a part of NHRA (drag racing) for a long time and we want to increase or involvement.”
There were two Pro Stock Pontiacs bearing significant Mickey Thompson Tires signage on their sides competing at the Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals, but neither were actually running the tires, nor are they likely to at any time in the near future.  Matt Scranton, a former Sport Compact racer of some renown, is driving a GTO that came out of the Greg Anderson/Summit Racing camp (and first competed at this year’s Gatornationals), with a second car being piloted by Bill Glidden, son of the 10-time Winston champion, Bob.

Jason Moulton from M/T Tires told Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com that “what we’re here to do with this new car (indicating Glidden’s silver GTO) is shake it down and get as much data as we can.  Billy lives close to Indy, and it’s a little bit of an extracurricular activity, but we’re thinking we’ll be able to learn something and get our car ready to do our development program.

Moulton admits that the company is far from ready to introduce a new tire for Pro Stock, but that’s definitely their goal.  “It’s going to be in the near future,” was as far as he appeared willing to go.  “We don’t have our timeline figured out yet for the development of the big tire, but I know it will be soon.  Mickey Thompson has been a part of NHRA (drag racing) for a long time and we want to increase or involvement.”

Bill Glidden hadn’t competed in an NHRA race in Pro Stock since 1995, which is an eternity by drag racing standards.  There was no opportunity for testing the GTO that Glidden purchased fro Mark Pawuk days before the race began.  In fact, Glidden didn’t even have a confirmed entry before Tuesday, at which time he made a last second arrangement with engine supplier Steve Schmidt to utilize one of his powerplants.  As Glidden said before Friday evenings pro session, “This will be the first hit with this car.  I’m not nervous, I’m just waiting to see what degree of dumb-ass we look like out here.” 

His concerns proved groundless after the car knocked out a 6.790/203.46 in the first session, and while that was good for no better than the Number 23 position, it was pretty darned impressive for a completely new combination.  Worth noting was Bob Glidden’s pulling one of his son’s crewmen out of the way so he could properly position the car o the starting line prior to the run.

Glidden is, if nothing else, a realist, and had no major expectations for the weekend.  “My goal was just to get here,” he said.  “It was tough just getting an entry.  After I had already written it off, which was late Monday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon I got a call (from NHRA), so before I even thought about it I said okay.  I didn’t have an engine, and we didn’t even have the car together.  I don’t have everything we need in here.”  When asked what the biggest thing he was lacking, Glidden replied, “a week.”  In other words, just more time to be better prepared.

As he said before climbing into the car for that first session, “If we can do a burnout and stage, then it’s official that we’re here to race.  All of the talk that I’ve been hearing that I wasn’t allowed to race will then have to stop.

“There’s no way we can qualify, even with one of Steve’s motors.  In fairness to Steve, I called him Tuesday afternoon, late in the afternoon.  For the U.S. Nationals that was pretty short notice.  I’m sure I don’t have (the kind of horsepower) he and Koretsky and some of those fellows have to race with, and they’ll have to make good runs themselves to get in an race, so it’s not likely.”

On Saturday morning Glidden improved with a 6.756/204.39, and then suffered tire shake in the evening session, so remains outside the field, longingly looking in.  But, as he said, this is the beginning, and with M/T’s help there’s no telling what might happen somewhere and some time down the road.

For Matt Scranton the situation is somewhat different.  His car has been campaigned before, and was ready to go when the gates, opened, but he, too, has struggled, and is mired in the 20s among the non-qualifiers with a best of 6.727.  Scranton, like Glidden, hasn’t been able to test on M/T tires because they don’t yet exist.  As he said, “This is strictly an advertising deal for the rest of the year.  We’re not going to do anything until a tire is fully developed.  We have a commitment to KB Racing (Ken Black) to got out and run the car the way it is.  That’s the commitment we have to fulfill, with the Goodyear tires on it.”

Because of his experience in the Sport Compact series we asked Scranton’s opinion of how it’s working.  “We didn’t give up on the Sport Compact series.  It was just that we had an opportunity to come over here and run Pro Stock, and that’s what we decided to do for our future in drag racing.

“I think the costs of racing in the Sport Compact series has increased so much that to be competitive in the Pro Rear Wheel Drive class you’ve got to spend two or three hundred thousand dollars, and it’s hard to get sponsorship over there because, Number 1, the TV package this year is horrible.  There hasn’t been a race on TV yet.  How can you sell yourself to sponsors when it’s not even on TV?

“The magazines also all quit covering it because they went to drifting.  The magazines don’t cover drag racing any more like they used to, so when you go to a potential sponsor, they want to see return on investment.  If you can’t show them that, they’re not going to give you any money.

“I think drifting is figure skating on asphalt.  I don’t understand it.  I ask a lot of questions (about it) and never get the same answer.”