Pro Stock living legend Bob Glidden was at this year’s 53rd U.S. Nationals serving as a consultant for the Knoll Gas Energy car driven by Justin Humphries, and recently we had a chance to catch up with the second-winningest Pro Stock driver of all time to discuss his Indy success, among other things.

Glidden was great at every track he went to, but he was especially dominant at the U.S. Nationals, winning an incredible 9 times in an equally impressive 13-straight final round appearances. What set Glidden apart from the competition?

  “We were very lucky,” said a humble Glidden. “We always seemed to have the absolute best luck at this race track. Other than that, what helped us more than anything was the fact that we dynoed our engines in Indy air, so we may have been more prepared engine-wise than our competition for the simple fact that we live here.”

Glidden won at this famous venue many times, but as most any driver will tell you, any win at Indy is the crown jewel of a career, even if you only do it once. That makes it impossible for Glidden to pick out his favorite U.S. Nationals victory.

“I’ve been asked which one was the most special many times,” Glidden said. “All of them were special. I would say the most special win of my career wasn’t here at Indy, it was actually my last one in Denver. I can’t separate one U.S. Nationals from another, so they all rank up there for me.” Pro Stock living legend Bob Glidden was at this year’s 53rd U.S. Nationals serving as a consultant for the Knoll Gas Energy car driven by Justin Humphries, and recently we had a chance to catch up with the second-winningest Pro Stock driver of all time to discuss his Indy success, among other things.

Glidden was great at every track he went to, but he was especially dominant at the U.S. Nationals, winning an incredible 9 times in an equally impressive 13-straight final round appearances. What set Glidden apart from the competition?

“We were very lucky,” said a humble Glidden. “We always seemed to have the absolute best luck at this race track. Other than that, what helped us more than anything was the fact that we dynoed our engines in Indy air, so we may have been more prepared engine-wise than our competition for the simple fact that we live here.”

Glidden won at this famous venue many times, but as most any driver will tell you, any win at Indy is the crown jewel of a career, even if you only do it once. That makes it impossible for Glidden to pick out his favorite U.S. Nationals victory.

“I’ve been asked which one was the most special many times,” Glidden said. “All of them were special. I would say the most special win of my career wasn’t here at Indy, it was actually my last one in Denver. I can’t separate one U.S. Nationals from another, so they all rank up there for me.”

Everyone knows Glidden as the ultimate Ford man, but what many may not know is that he competed in the 1976 US Nationals in a Chevrolet.

“The Chevy thing was an overnight deal that we put together to try to prove a point to NHRA,” Glidden recalled with a smile. “They put so many rules on me with the Ford, but it didn’t turn out as we expected. It wasn’t a very memorable year for us.”

Since his tumultuous tenure with Don Schumacher’s Pro Stock operation and more recently with Maskin’s car when Tom Martino was behind the wheel, Glidden admits he has enjoyed his time off. “I played a lot of golf, but I’m still no good at it,” Glidden joked.

Glidden’s split with Maskin was reported to be less than amicable, so the question of whether any tension remains between the two now that they are working together once again was a hot button topic in the Pro Stock pits.

“With Maskin and I, we never really know where everything stands,” Glidden jokingly said. “We’re both maniacs, so whatever it is, it is. We understand each other though. Richard called and asked me if I would come back and help him with this car, so here I am.” Glidden put to rest any rumors that the two were at odds or remained at odds after the initial parting of ways. “We didn’t have a bad split. Some things just weren’t going the way I wanted them to, so I figured the best thing for me to do was go home and hit golf balls.”

“Richard and I are a lot alike,” Glidden continued. “We both have done this for 35 years, and we both want to win. It is just so tough to put all the pieces together to make that happen these days.”

Glidden’s return to Indy as Humphries’ consultant comes after an extensive test session in Martin, MI. The team has been struggling with the chassis setup under the car, but they were pleased with the results of the testing.

“There were 6 or 8 really good cars testing with us in Martin, and we were the quickest out of all of them,” Glidden said. “We think we’ve got it sorted out, but we’ll find out tonight when we make our first run.”

That first run didn’t work out as expected. Humphries had to about the run when he shook the tires at the top of low gear.