Humphreys adds legend Glidden to Knoll-Gas Energy team

Brainerd, prerace: Operating on the theory that three solid Pro Stock minds are better than two, Justin Humphreys has added Bob Glidden, one of the category’s greatest performers, to his RaceRedi Motorsports/Knoll-Gas Energy Pontiac GTO team.

Glidden -- who amassed 85 Pro Stock wins, won 10 world championships, and was chosen number 4 in NHRA’s Top 50 drivers from its first 50 years -- joined the team during Monday and Tuesday testing sessions in Michigan.

“I’m excited,” said Humphreys, in his first season of Pro Stock competition. “Bob worked with Richard [Maskin, the team’s veteran engine builder] and Eric [Luzinski, crew chief] during testing, and things went well. They were making little changes here and there to the engine, chassis, and tune-ups. ”

Humphreys and his new lineup will make their POWERade Series debut Friday when the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals gets under way at Brainerd Int'l Raceway. It marks the driver’s first appearance at the racing facility northwest of the Twin Cities. But this stop is nothing new for Glidden, Maskin, and Luzinksi.

“Eric is the crew chief, Richard builds the engines, and Bob will be overseeing everything from the driver to the car to the engine tune-up,” Humphreys said. “We had two smart minds, and now we added a third. There’s a lot of history there between the three of them. I definitely think this is for the better.”

Humphreys now hopes to begin piling up some history of his own. The former sport compact driver has qualified for seven of the first 15 events, with a best start of No. 8 in Denver last month.

“The car ran well during testing,” said Humphreys, “but there was only one other car there, so we really didn’t have much to compare it with. We’ll find out Friday afternoon when qualifying begins.”