Drag Illustrated Issue 124, August 2017 | Page 28

Dirt off for the immediate future. But Glidden got encouragement and help from the likes of Ray Skillman and Todd Hoerner, eventually ending up with Halsey’s red Camaro in early June. Ad- mittedly picky when it comes to the details and used to the Pro Stock-styled Mustang he had driven for years, there was a significant amount of work to do. But what has transpired over the past three months is much more than Glidden ever anticipated. “We’ve been working on this car diligently,” Glidden said. “This is all we’ve done, working on this, period. I didn’t expect it to require every- thing it has required. Honestly, it’s taken much more than I thought it would.” The past three months generally consisted of early-morning starts and late-night finishes, with a significant amount of Glidden’s re- sources going into the mass repairs. The work has been extensive. Billy and Shannon stripped all the wires out of the car, remounted the engine, finished a complete overhaul of the rear suspension and bracing, cut the seat completely out of the frame and started over, and built new headers. That’s only the tip of it, too, as Glid- den also redid the transmission and rear end of the car, put in different bellhousings and struts, and much more. “We basically rebuilt the car,” Glidden said. For all the trouble Glidden went through to overhaul the Camaro, the obvious question is, ‘Why not just get a different car to begin with?’ But that wouldn’t be the Glidden way, and his hands-on, meticulous approach has clearly worked well for years. This process has been arduous – and some may question if it’s worth it – but Glidden has often been master- ful in these types of projects. The scope of work this time is far different, however, and about the only thing that has remained unchanged is the driver. Without question, Glidden remains one of the most talented in the sport, but of all the challenges he’s faced and overcome, this may be the biggest. “It’s a totally different car than what I’m used the process, along with local resident Nick White, who worked with Glidden several times each week to help get the car ready for the U.S. Nationals. With Indy now complete, the logical question is where does the talented veteran go from here? Glidden isn’t sure. He would like to compete more in 2017 in NHRA Pro Mod and other places, but he isn’t sure if it makes financial sense or is even financially possible. Glidden believes there is potential in the Camaro based on testing data, and he has impressively come back from major crashes before to succeed, most notably in 2010 when he won an NMCA event and back-to-back ADRL races after a crash. He was far removed from having any nerves in Indy after returning from the horrific crash in Orlando, but this type of return against a loaded, 30-car NHRA Pro Mod field is not easy. A daunt- ing challenge like that has often brought out the best in Glidden, but to succeed this time, Glidden knows that he may need a few things to go his way. “I’m not saying we can’t do this, but things have changed,” Glidden said. “These people aren’t messing around now. These guys are re- ally good and they pay a lot of money to a lot of people. We’re not out there just for the thrill of racing. We’re out there trying to pay our bills. We’ve always had to make butter out of duck shit. That’s what we’ve had to do.” DI DI DI to,” Glidden said. “We totally redid it ourselves. This seemed like a really good car for what we were getting it for and we got a lot of stuff with it. We do what we have to do to keep going. I’m getting to the point where I would think I would rather have it be more simple than what it has been, but financially there was no simple fix for it.” Skillman’s help has been invaluable to the process, and Glidden was quick to send praise his way as well. “Ray does a lot for the racing community and local community, and he’s been great,” Glidden said. “He helped us do this deal.” Glidden also credited Sonny’s Racing Engines’ Hoerner, as well as Jerry Bickel for their help in DI DI DI DI Pro Stock to Pro Street DI DI DI shifting gears is just more fun! ramclutches.com 803.788.6034 28 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Trevor Eman - pro stock Issue 124 BILLY GLIDDEN