Snowbird Nationals at Bradenton

Words by Steve Gruenwald and Kay Burk
Photos by Steve Gruenwald
12/8/05

Bob Glidden came to the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals at the request of pro golfer Ken Perry, who was in South Africa. Glidden drove Perry's 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, which is powered by one of his son Billy's 404 small block nitrous-equipped Ford motors.

It's not easy being a race promoter. There are so many things out of your control.

The Snowbird Outlaw Nationals came to an end at 11 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2005. To understand why it ended so late, you have to go back to Saturday afternoon. Everything was going on schedule with Limited Street, Outlaw 10.5, Open Outlaw, Top Alcohol Dragster and the Outlaw Pro Mods. Beginning at 3 o'clock everything was smooth and the first round of qualifying was nearly complete when an Open Outlaw car oiled the left lane on the top end. Unfortunately, it was a lengthy cleanup, at least an hour. After cleaning the lane, the very next pair went out and the car in the right lane oiled his lane right off the starting line.

Saturday night at Bradenton Motorsports Park is the Night of Fire, so the stands were packed at 6 p.m. After the second oildown the track management decided to bring out the jets. They were supposed to run at 5 and 8 p.m. Two jet dragsters, two jet Funny Cars, Les Shockley and the triple engine semi, the Cool Bus wheelstander, and Benny the Bomb. Benny would go off after the end of the second show. Once a night is enough for him. (He gets in a box and then blows it up -- with dynamite.)