Bob Glidden has never been so happy to DNQ.

The multitude of rabid Pro Stock fans at O’Reilly Raceway Park were all too happy to offer up a hearty applause and more than one standing standing ovation for the iconic drag racer.

The ten-time NHRA champion from Whiteland, Ind., was all smiles as he towed up the return road following his final run Sunday at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

“The fans are so incredible that it’s unbelievable,” said Glidden. “But, we knew we’d struggle. The guys on the team worked so hard to get me into the car and into the routine. I feel bad that we ran so poorly. This has been a great weekend.

Bob Glidden has never been so happy to DNQ.

The multitude of rabid Pro Stock fans at O’Reilly Raceway Park were all too happy to offer up a hearty applause and more than one standing standing ovation for the iconic drag racer.

The ten-time NHRA champion from Whiteland, Ind., was all smiles as he towed up the return road following his final run Sunday at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

“The fans are so incredible that it’s unbelievable,” said Glidden. “But, we knew we’d struggle. The guys on the team worked so hard to get me into the car and into the routine. I feel bad that we ran so poorly. This has been a great weekend.

Glidden ended up 24^th out of 30 entries with a 6.705 elapsed time at 205.91 miles per hour. The bump spot was a 6.631 confirming to the cagey veteran there’s much work to be done before the next race at the NHRA Carolinas Nationals in Concord, NC, in two weeks.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do in the next four or five months,” Glidden said. “We’re going to get better.”

Glidden said the first order of importance for the Cunningham Motorsports team is in making some changes to the engine specifically in the cylinder heads.

“We’ve got to get to a race track with hot conditions and normal air,: said Glidden. “We have to do a better job with these cars.”

Glidden’s return to the quarter-mile turned out to be a family affair with support from longtime wife Etta and eldest son Billy, who came out to watch his dad drive in the test session prior to the event in Martin, Mich.

For all three days and every run Glidden made, Etta was standing behind the car on the starting line just as she did in the championship years.

“To tell the truth, I never would have believed she would have been here past a day,” Glidden said. “It was very important to me and made me feel very good. She’s always been the backbone of our whole deal. It was very important to me that she was here.”

Etta didn’t want to be anywhere else than where she was.

“It felt just like old times,” Etta beamed. “He was so excited about it that we all got excited along with him. Once I watched him on his first pass and realized he was going to make it to the end of the track safely, I was okay with it.

“When he first told me he was coming back, I thought he was nuts. But I let him know that it was his life and he has to do with it what he wants to do with it. I let him know that no matter what he chose, I was there.”

Son Billy, a two-time champion in the ADRL’s Outlaw 10.5 champion, after watching his father make four runs in testing met him at the turnoff of U.S. 131 Motorsports Park [Martin, MI.] and the two shared an embrace and a few tears.

“It was one of the most special moments of my life,” said Glidden. “Bill was a little leery of me doing this. He didn’t know if I could do a decent job at it. He didn’t know if health-wise I should be doing it.

“In the end he came down to the track and told me he was very proud of me. He told me I had done a great job and we just sat there and cried for about five minutes. I love both of my sons.”

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