Glidden Turns Racing Talents To Oval Track

Bob Glidden, who has won more national events than any other driver in drag racing history, recently retired from driving to pursue a NASCAR Winston Cup engine-development business.

One of the first customers for the longtime NHRA Pro Stock star is owner-driver Geoff Bodine.

Bodine said he has signed a three-year contract with the 10-time NHRA champion and his sons to work on the research and development for the engines that power his No. 7 QVC Ford Thunderbird.

“We’re working now to try to involve some other Ford teams in this project,” Bodine said. “Working together on developing our engines put us at the level the stronger multi-car teams are at with their engine programs.”

Glidden, who has won a record 85 national events in his 26-year Pro Stock career, said, “I am going to miss drag racing very much. … Drag racing has been our whole life, but I think we’ll be able to use the knowledge we’ve gained to find power for Ford teams in Winston Cup racing.”

Hill back in Arrows-Yamaha

Damon Hill, who lost his ride with the elite Williams-Renault team after winning the Formula One championship last season, will begin defense of his crown Sunday in Australia driving an Arrows-Yamaha that bears little resemblance to the Williams. In fact, Arrows has never won a Formula One race.

Problems have popped up consistently during testing, the latest coming last week when a nosewing failure on Hill’s first lap out of the pits at Silverstone in England ended the test.

On board

Bridgestone-Firestone will open its first season in Formula One this week in Melbourne, supplying five teams with race tires.

The Japan-based company will outfit Arrows, Stewart Grand Prix, Lola, Minardi and Equipe Prost.

The seven other teams in the series will remain with Goodyear, the exclusive tire supplier last season.

Nice recovery

Defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. came back from a wreck in the season-opening race at Orlando, Fla., to win last weekend at Tucson, Ariz.

The victory, the 11th of his career, makes Hornaday the only driver to have won in each of the three seasons the truck series has existed.

And he was able to come back from painful rib injuries sustained in the crash in January.

Doctors said he pulled “all the cartilage and ligaments that hook the center of your chest to the ribcage,” Hornaday said. “He said it would take a month to heal. Fortunately, we had a six-week break.”

Andretti comes from way back

Michael Andretti’s victory Sunday at Homestead, Fla., was the 36th of his Indy-car career, adding to his record as the winningest active CART driver.

It was also the biggest deficit the second-generation Indy-car star has overcome for a victory.

He started 14th in the season-opener and took 69 laps to work his way to the lead on the 1.517-mile oval at Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex. His previous highest climb to victory was last year at Detroit, where Andretti started ninth.

The victory also came in the first race for the new Swift chassis, making it the first American-made car to win in the Indy-car series in 14 years.

Rookie reaction

Angelle Seeling can’t wait to get back to drag-racing motorcycles on the NHRA circuit. The rookie sensation placed seventh in only a half-season of competition. The first of 15 NHRA motorcycle events will be this weekend at the Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.

Seeling brought unprecedented attention to the pro stock motorcycle ranks when she won in only her fourth race, setting a national elapsed-time record.

The registered nurse from Americus, Ga., is a rare woman in a male-dominated sport and such a hot commodity she and team owner George Bryce are talking with Hallmark Entertainment about a TV movie of her life.

“It’s hard to believe someone wants to do a movie on me,” she said. “It’s hard to believe all of the things that have happened in the last year. It just seems like they’ve got to be talking about someone else.

“But what I want to do is race. All the newspaper stories, TV interviews, talk about the movie are wonderful. But what I love is the racing. And it seems like an eternity since my last race.”

Seeling is one of the major reasons for the increased interest in motorcycle drag racing.