Jim Glaze’s ‘Renegade Indian’ Firebird

Words by Jim Baker / Photos by Tim Marshall & Ron Ogilvie

After attending the AHRA Winternationals in Tucson, Az. in 1976, Jim and Larry Glaze were westbound & down on I-10 in Larry’s 18 wheeler. They had just delivered a load of Royal Crown Cola to the Southwest Arizona warehouse and timed the trip so
they could take in the Winternational drag races.
The brothers came up behind a little ’75 Vega
Pro Stock car on an open trailer, heading
home to Anaheim. They followed us
a while and then we stopped for
coffee, and the rest is
history, to this day.

Jim had spent twenty years as a machinist mate in the Navy, just mustered out, and was hanging out with his brother while he located a job. Two weeks later he was working for Precisioned Speed Shop in Anaheim. He became a good, knowledgeable crew chief for ‘Chevy West’, and the Dave Smith Pro Stock Oldsmobiles which followed.

In 1977, the team decided to build their own Chevrolet Monza to replace the five year old Vega. This car became an Oldsmobile Starfire with Olds power and won ‘Best Engineered’ at the 1979 NHRA Winternationals. Jim Glaze was right in the middle of all this.

Jim bought an Alston Engineering kit and started fitting and welding pipes together.

Four years passed, and finally, in November of 2013, the completed chassis was taken to Cliff Ricci in Las Vegas for certification. After all those years welding everything and anything for the US Navy, the chassis passed scrutiny without a hitch. Back in Arizona, the car was placed on a ‘fast track’ in preparation for the 2014 drag racing season.