Pro Stock Drag Racing in the '70s and '80s

Some pictures that I took of Pro Stockers back in the '70s and '80s along with a clip from the Diamond P video "Decade Of Thrills" Note... the last photo, at 6:43, before the video clip is one that I took from the grandstands at the '83 US Nationals showing Lee Shepherd in the lead at that point. But as the video shows, Bob Glidden drove around him to take the title. Great Racin'!!

[@pontiacreddz4021]

when they were still like cars I feel truly blessed to have seen these guys at many of the east coast tracks.

[@lagunsmoose]

Real cars, real drivers. Best times for Pro Stock!!

[@smallchunkaground2071]

Other than the old style square scoops the pro stockers of old look like the weekend bracket cars of today. Cool video, thanks for sharing.

[@mhakkert]

Excellent! I even caught a glimpse of Lee Hunter's Mercury Zephyr, what memories....

[@losidude05]

I grew up watching Bob Glidden and Lee Sheppard racing. Was sad when Lee died!!!

[@100lof]

absoutely awesome. good old days how it should be. great pics. thankyou!

[@Kydog42]

Bob Glidden is a 10 time NHRA Pro Stock Champion!

[@canabox7112]

I remember him for all his Nascar engines blowing up.

[@sparkyguitar0058]

@@canabox7112 What are you talking about?

[@fredramos9206]

@@canabox7112 I don't think your Head is in the right place?,...see if you can learn something about Bob Glidden s winningest engines!?

[@DontheBody]

I have to give you props. This is the era I grew up in, watchin' the Pro Stockers. Any one remember Don Carlton (Mopar Missle) Judy Lilly? I rate the video 5 stars

[@tgerman569]

Thank You for your time and efforts posting the pictures. Just ran across this and, Cool!! I can use some of the Glidden T-Bird for a build I'm planning!!

[@jrsn2cars]

Thanks for taking the time to watch! Glad you enjoyed it! John

[@mann5353]

What a great video ! It was cool to be a part of all that.. Thank you !

[@ellroyblues72]

Bob Glidden is THE king of Pro Stock.

[@Gavin84w]

You have seen some great cars and drivers, thanks for putting together. Even from all the way down under and well before the computer era i know a lot of those names and got to see many of them in 89 & 92 when i went to the US. Ihave hung around prostocks in Australia since about 1988, we would rarely get 8 cars to run the series back then and today we get 20 + every meet and there is not a clunker amongst them, all state of the art and now running 6,s with just 400 cubes.

[@redracer1985]

@ellroyblues72 agreed!!! Bob Glidden is DA MAN when it comes to Pro Stock Racing.

[@JHUGHES484]

Thank You very much. It brought chills and tears all at once. Very gratefull. Loved it.

[@jrsn2cars]

I was at the US Nationals the first year they ran the Pro Stock class. It was funny watching all those cars doing dry hops! They looked like a bunch of leap frogs! It sure was cool to watch them power-shifting down the track! I miss those days! Thanks for watching and commenting! John

[@jrsn2cars]

Thanks! Lee Shepherd was a class act too! RIP I miss the Reher and Morrison team. Thanks for watching! John

[@eda8877]

Yes he/they were a class act. Lee was the most humble man you'd meet out there not to mention he was the only guy around that could put BG in the trailer.

[@hammondleroy]

Great Great video. The good old days.

[@sparkyguitar0058]

Where's Gapp and Roush? Wanted to see the " Tijuana taxi" 4dr Maverick.

[@jrsn2cars]

Thanks a lot! I'm a little rusty but youtube has forced me to dust off my guitars and make my own soundtracks. I'm glad you don't hate it :-) Thanks for watching! John

[@caine440]

Nice stuff, Back in the day when they looked like cars. I like the early 70s before the tube frames and clutch-less trans helped average drivers become Pros. Great Video. Thanks

[@mtreet]

Great video, showing the champion Bob Glidden at his best.

[@jrsn2cars]

Thanks for the nice comments Dale! It means a lot, coming from the master!! John

[@lifesadrag8469]

Glidden's Red & White Motorcraft T-bird is one of my favorites, so iconic. IMO it ranks up there with Forces Castrol GTX Mustang F/C body...

[@tonedr]

love the sound track! Just terrific.........great video sir..........lots of creativity here my friend! Consider me a fan! your friend, dale 5*****

[@jrsn2cars]

Thanks, Komo, I appreciate the kind words!

[@mikeburks9641]

Lee Shepard and RMS racing gave Glidden some serious competition, no doubt about it but Glidden was da man in the 70s and 80s no doubt about it.

[@TheNovaMan]

@HEMIBOYS Yeah, the other thing I didn't like was allowing the Lenco clutchless transmissions.

[@FINALSTRIKE94]

This is awesome, thanx for posting!

[@Midwesthotrodsandmusclecars]

What I notice is that the stands are full. When you watch current videos of drag racing all you see are empty seats. Bob Glidden is right, it has become kind of boring. Back in the day the cars, even though highly modified, were at least based upon cars you could buy.

[@williemoon7522]

well said ..same with nascar ..people stay away by the thousands ... no brand identity ...

[@rogerbeutler5671]

I totally agree. I'm a true blue Ford fan going way back. Bob Glidden was my favorite driver. It was so easy to go into the pits & talk to the racers. Bob, in my opinion was one of the hardest working & friendliest guys you would ever want to meet. The earlier Pro Stocks actually looked more like cars you could go to your dealership & buy. Now their so sophisticated & costly, NHRA can barely field a 16-car field. I think NHRA has really screwed up drag racing big time. It's become a huge political organization. It costs so much to attend their events we quit going years ago. Thank goodness for other smaller organizations such as PSCA.

[@eda8877]

The RMS guys beat Glidden for the world championship 4 times. 81-84. Lee Shephard had his number and Bob even said so. Sadly, we lost Lee in a crash and that was it for Glidden's losing streak. Bruce Allen was never as good as Lee was.

[@canabox7112]

Same with Nascar

[@4thstooge]

Some nice classic shots, Back in the days of real cars & unrealistic weight brakes.

[@500erider]

Great memories here,and better days gone by, back when Americans actually WERE free and the government wasn't stuck up everyone's ass.ANYWAY,I wonder what actually happened to all these great old drag cars when they were retired.I know Bob Glidden's cars are probably in a museum,but I wonder about the cars of the lesser known racers.It would be interesting to know......

[@jrsn2cars]

@Beano4u Yes that's me justa jammin' away. Thanks for the compliment! It means a lot! John

[@burningblue1254]

Golden age of pro stock. When they actually looked like a stock car not the funny cars that they.try to pass off on us today

[@376cubicinches]

#1 Lee Shepherd / Reher-Morrison Took Pro Stock by Storm with the World Title!

[@eda8877]

4 times in a row - 81 - 84. Small and big cid BBCs.

[@jrsn2cars]

@TheNovaMan The pictures were taken at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Central Michigan Dragway, Brainerd Intl. Raceway as well as Martin. Thanks for watching! John

[@bosswagen]

nice good job men

[@hanzcruz7620]

What they ment on pro stock: 70-90s: Heavily modifiied chassis of a car with naturally aspirated engine Today: Full tube chassis with Naturally aspirated engine

[@sbmalibu]

When NHRA mandated the 500 inch,2350 punnd weight limit Lee Shephard had already won his first title I believe. One with the under 400 inch big blocks. With one of the first Don Ness chassis built for pro stock.They also won the most races the year before and missed the championchip when they broke a trans. They were the first 500 inch champions and the first to win NHRA and IHRA championchips the same year. And he was killed in an accident in 85. I think he would have been ahead of Glidden.

[@eda8877]

Thank you for pointing these things out. I believe he would have continued to kick Bob's butt for a good long time because Lee was also their cylinder head man and he was the best (obviously).

[@4406bbldb]

wish i kept some of my cars.

[@55chevytruck]

Yea, I have dreams of cars that I used to own. Back in the day they were just cars. Now everything is worth a million dollers!

[@zxtenn]

I remember seeing Grumpy and his 327 Vega at NY National speedway maybe 1975, running mid 9's. not 500 +++ custom blocks then-- the little mouse 327 could take the BB too-- he had a few Vega's -- those were the days-- really the only thing a Vega was good for was to put a small block in

[@jrsn2cars]

Thanks for watching, and for the nice comments! John

[@TheNovaMan]

Wow, swell video! Are all your pics from Martin?

[@joeaxberg3470]

When drag racing was cool.

[@jrsn2cars]

Thanks for watching Nitro! Your comments are appreciated!! John

[@bigblockmustang]

Sweettttt Les

[@robertstilwell9481]

You forgot one of the best independent racers, Gordie Reveria😢

[@w1llard28]

When jamming gears was an advantage over automatics now it’s let go of the button hope she sticks

[@ozzzzy81]

they need to have more of the 70s 80s era pro stocks at the nostalgia events! always see the super stockers and funny cars etc why no side by side nostalgia pro stock??

[@canabox7112]

I LMAO when Geoff Bodine hired Bob Glidden to build him Nascar engines. Epic Fail. They forgot to tell him they had to last longer than seven seconds!

[@jongallant6054]

EXP with 500 cubes? Bob sometimes worried me. Lol

[@ROOTSROCK1000]

this is a fact the reason pro stock runs big blocks is because back in the late 70s bob glidden won more races with his 366 sbf with the 351c 4v closed chamber heads the chevys and mopar could not beat him he had to carry more weight than everybody but still won...thats why they switch to big block because ford won and chevy diddin't people don't like it when ford wins

[@55chevytruck]

Stop it! I love all these cars!

[@eda8877]

The RMS guys with the Chevy were able to beat Bad Bob with both big and smaller cid Chevy engines.

[@mikeburks9641]

Ed A nobody back then consistently beat Glidden big block or small block it's in the record books, the che y guys can say what ever they want to and accuse him of cheating but the truth is the truth.

[@edge2sword186]

The 351C had poor exhaust ports and when they raised them that engine came into it's own with some real power even the NASCAR Fords had a better idea .So where did the 351 C go ?

[@ashleystephens519]

please!!! we are all sitting here at Christmas dinner and can't figure out what the first song is. please help!! Awesome video.

[@jrsn2cars]

Haha! It's my own instrumental version of "Tumblin' Dice" by The Rolling Stones. Thanks for watching! John

[@lawncuttingplusdelta]

Dude u are the man!!!!! That music blew me away, I'm a guitar player at 50 who started at 25 when igotthe Rolling Stones bug!!!!

[@1951RKP]

Back in the day when NHRA would have 30 plus Pro Stock cars trying for a 16 car field. Now days they can't field 16 cars at some races. These cars are so expensive to race these days.

[@williemoon7522]

too many rules .. look at pro mod .. 30 plus entries ... run what you bring sort of .

[@1951RKP]

Even Pro Mod has some rules. Step up to PDRA to Pro Extreme and you get the most unrestricted fastest acceleration door slammers in the world. Check out their web site www.pdra660.com The only thing I don't like about them is they only run 1/8th mile.

[@1951RKP]

I agree with you about the number of entries in NHRA Pro Mod versus NHRA Pro Stock. Sooner or later something has to give. I love Pro Stock but due to the outrageous cost and rules restrictions only a limited few can be competitive and that's killing the class.

[@rogerbeutler5671]

***** Try going to the Super Street Nationals in Vegas. We went last November. All but a few classes run the Quarter Mile as well as it not being bracket (break out) racing. The first car to the finish line w/o a red light wins. There were hundreds of great cars from Outlaw Pro Mods to 10.5, 8.5, etc.

[@1951RKP]

Roger Beutler --- Thanks Roger for the info. I live in the East and PDRA runs most of these classes but only run 1/8th mile which I'm not a fan of. My nephew races, builds engines and crew chiefs for many of the PDRA Pro Extreme cars. While I love to watch the cars he races and works on my heart is still into 1/4 mile and naturally aspirated motors. Much harder to build elite power without power adders. That's why I wish the Pro Stock cars cost hadn't got so out of control so only a handful can be competitive. Those few are killing the class. Then again younger racers have really got into the massive power these turbo and supercharged plus the nitrous cars can make. 1/8 mile tracks are cheaper to build. Less breakage and safer due to reduced terminal speeds. So it's just a sign of the times. Should I get the opportunity to check out the Vegas race you're speaking of I will. Thanks again for the information.

[@michaelraddish7898]

Real race cars,not what they have today with their million dollar rigs

[@bradhardy2629]

Must be the years that Chrysler told NHRA to fuck off they always made Ford & Chrysler cars weigh more then the GM's .

[@lilgrownfolk]

rip shorty palmer owner of joe lepones car

[@Al-ud8qi]

Man, they made those lame cars awesome!

[@carloaweberborne8373]

I'm

[@lemans3507]

I had to laugh when I saw the FORD exp those were one of the worst cars ever made.

[@wetcheetofart]

My Dad's Cougar at 4:07! Crazy. Memories...

[@givememoney8985]

love the first song what is it