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
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Trevor Eman - pro stock
Issue 124
BILLY GLIDDEN