Bob Glidden

Glidden was born in 1944 and began his drag racing career in the 1960s, initially competing in a Ford 427 Fairlane before moving to a 428 Cobra Jet Mustang in 1968. He started in the Stock and Super Stock classes, sponsored by Ed Martin Ford where he worked as a mechanic, and became a frequent winner in Division 3 before turning professional in 1972.

Glidden sold his Super Stock Mustangs late in the 1972 season and purchased a Pro Stock Pinto from Jack Roush and Wayne Gapp, quitting his job to race full-time. In his very first Pro race he finished second to Bill Jenkins at the Supernationals, and scored his first national win the following year at the U.S. Nationals with a then-record 9.03-second pass at 152.54 mph.

He won his first Pro Stock championship in 1974, then claimed a second consecutive title in 1975 with seven event wins including the Winternationals and Gatornationals. After an off year in 1976 and a runner-up finish in 1977, Glidden returned with a dominant 1978 campaign — switching from his Ford Pinto to a Ford Fairmont mid-season — to claim his third championship with seven victories.

In 1979, Glidden switched to a Plymouth Arrow and embarked on one of the most remarkable winning streaks in drag racing history. He did not lose a round until June, stringing together 14 consecutive race victories and 50 consecutive elimination-round wins before fouling at the Mile-High Nationals. He won seven events that season to claim another championship.

The 1980 championship came down to the final race, where Glidden overtook Lee Shepherd only after Shepherd's transmission failed. Shepherd then dominated from 1981 through 1984, but Glidden mounted a spectacular comeback when the NHRA adopted new engine rules. Despite initially struggling with an ill-handling Ford EXP under the new 500-cubic-inch limit, he transitioned to Ford Thunderbirds in 1983 and the car quickly became the class benchmark.

Glidden led the 1985 championship from wire to wire for his sixth title. After a dramatic 1986 season that included a terrifying crash at the Southern Nationals — where a wayward parachute caused his Thunderbird to spin into the guardrail and barrel-roll six times, leaving him unhurt — he won six of the last seven events to claim his seventh championship. He followed with his eighth title in 1987, winning eight races and qualifying number one at all 14 events of the season. His fifth straight championship came in 1988, and he won a record ninth and tenth title in 1989 with nine victories, ending the decade with 49 wins in that decade alone.

Glidden's 1979 season produced one of the longest winning streaks in professional drag racing, with 50 consecutive elimination-round wins — a standard that has never been matched. His 23 consecutive number-one qualifying positions, spanning from a stretch in the late 1980s through the entire 1987 season, underscored his consistency as both a driver and an engineer.

He nearly became the first doorslammer competitor to reach 200 mph when he ran 199.11 mph at an IHRA event in Darlington, South Carolina. A Top Sportsman car bested that mark later the same evening, but Glidden's threshold pass demonstrated the pace of development he drove in Pro Stock.

At the height of his career in 1987, Glidden reached the finals ten times, won 42 rounds of competition in a single season, and captured eight national event victories. His Ford Probe, introduced at the end of 1988, set a then-national elapsed time record of 7.277 seconds — the quickest Pro Stock run in NHRA history at that point.

After missing most of the 1995 season following open-heart surgery, he won his 85th and final national event at the Mopar Nationals that year. He retired from full-time competition after two events in 1997 and went on to serve as a crew chief for multiple teams.

At the time of his retirement, Glidden held the all-time NHRA wins record across all professional classes. He was eventually surpassed by John Force (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), but his ten championships remain among the most celebrated records in the sport.

His family was integral to his operation throughout his career: his wife Etta served as long-time crew chief, and sons Rusty and Billy were team members. All three appeared multiple times on the Car Craft Magazine All-Star Drag Racing Team, with Bob named to the team eleven times, including twice as Person of the Year.

Glidden was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1994 and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2005. A 2001 panel ranked him fourth among the NHRA Top 50 Drivers of 1951–2000, a reflection of his singular dominance across the Pro Stock category during the 1970s and 1980s.