Well, we’re officially less than one week away from the best damned drag race of the year, the NHRA Chevrolet Performance US Nationals. I’m heading to Ohio this weekend for a little warm up act in the form of the NMCA All-American Nationals which will be a wild, high speed, and frankly awesome affair as well. That being said, nothing beats Indy. Nothing beats it for the grind, for the work, for the sweat, the tears, and for drag racing on Monday afternoon into the history books.
Bob Glidden basically owned Lucas Oil Raceway (Then Indianapolis Raceway Park) making an insane 13-straight final round appearances at the event starting in the 1970s and running right up to 1989. You don’t have to be a math genius then to understand that this 1988 video highlights his 12th trip to the last round on Monday afternoon at Indianapolis. Waiting for him was the guy who he did the most battle with during the 1980s, Warren Johnson.
We like the TV setup on this one because rather than get stock quotes from the drivers the camera concentrate on Arlene Johnson and Etta Glidden. Two hard driven, sometimes hard nosed women who raced in lockstep with their family. Etta may have been more nuts and bolts than Arlene but that takes nothing away from the commitment that Johnson had for her family and her race team.
I’ll be running you down with fun 1988 Indy stuff all week. I’m counting the seconds until the first pair of stockers launch off next Wednesday morning!
I’m Mopar to the core, but I sure did love watching the Gliddens!
Hey look, I can recognize the cars, they look good, and they are different from each other with great drivers. Unlike lumpy looking ProCamaro of today