With New Engine Coming, Glidden Staying The Course In Ever-Changing Extreme 10.5

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American Drag Racing League (ADRL) Extreme 10.5 legend Billy Glidden didn’t walk away with the actual victory at Royal Purple Raceway.But in another respect - and Glidden might argue an equally important one - he did leave Baytown, Texas with a win.“This was the first event in a year and a half where we actually left with the same engine in the car that we got there with,” Glidden said. Upon further review, it was actually the Ford Summer Drags V in June of 2009 where Glidden completed a race weekend on only one engine.With an ever-changing landscape in Extreme 10.5, one of Glidden’s goals in 2011 is to make sure he doesn’t go another 22 months without it happening.Even on one engine, Glidden was his usual consistent self, advancing to the finals of CarSafe Dragpalooza VII presented by LenMar Motorsports before falling to Lamar Swindoll Jr.“We know we can’t run as well as some of these other combos, so we’re going to try to run well, but instead of pushing it to death, we’re going to try to make runs and get a better feel on this engine combination,” said Glidden, who has an ADRL-best 11 wins.“We have to be realistic. We’re running as good as we can right now without destroying the engine. We’re pleased with how we’re running with what we’ve got.”What Glidden does have isn’t an engine or a combination that will run world records or challenge defending XTF World Champion Dan Millen when Millen is running at his best.That was evident a year ago, when Glidden went a career-best 3.97 at the “Battle For The Belts” but still lost by a sizeable margin to Millen, who was in the low 3.80s that Friday in October at Texas Motorplex.But Glidden knows the game and he’s not about to gripe.“Dan has a lot of experience and we knew he was going to run that eventually,” Glidden said. “When he figured out that combination, he’s a bad dude.”That doesn’t mean Glidden is holding up the white flag. In fact, it’s far from that.Glidden knows a little about dominating a class, as he was the runaway standout competitor for an extended period in XTF, winning a World Championship in 2008.The rest of the class has caught up, but Glidden still has undeniable talent and an uncanny ability to perform well under pressure.How he is doing it is something else as well.Glidden started running his 429-cubic-inch Hemi engine all the way back in 1982, meaning it has nearly 30 years on it.Things have certainly been reconfigured, but it’s still impressive that Glidden has managed to accomplish what he has the past few seasons with that engine.He won back-to-back races in 2010 and finished second in the points standings, and stayed consistent with it at Royal Purple Raceway in late March.“In the final, I had it in the back of my head to put the thing on death, but we’re just trying to learn the engine,” Glidden said. “Last year, we never did find the tune-up.”Glidden also has something bigger up his sleeve, though its debut date is still to be determined.He received a 635-cubic inch engine from Sonny’s Racing Engines, which should provide more power than his current set-up.All in all, it could lead to exciting things for Glidden in the very near future, but there’s still plenty of work to be done before that day comes.“We have to build different things and there’s expenses to be made, so we have to pace ourselves with that,” Glidden said. “It’s a more conventional type engine and it makes a little more power, but it might be a couple races before we’re comfortable.“It’s not like we can just throw it in and show up. We have to be realistic about what can and can’t get done.”(Photos by ADRL/Richards)

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