The son to legendary Pro Stock racing Bob Glidden earned his biggest career win during racing last weekend…

2nd generation driver Bill Glidden raced to his first career NHRA victory during the J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Toyota NHRA Summernationals.

Billy Glidden wheeled his M/T sponsored Mustang a it’s first NHRA national event title.

Glidden defeated the quickest assembled field in Pro Mod class history — the event featured a super swift 16-car bump spot of 5.944 secs.

Glidden powered his nitrous injected Mickey Thompson Ford 2010 Mustang to a 5.923-second pass at 243.24 mph to beat Don Walsh’s 5.897 at 252.33 in his Precision Turbo/Walsh Motorsports Chevy Camaro on a holeshot. This was a rematch of the final in Houston earlier this year in which Walsh was victorious.

Billy and wife Shannon celebrate in victory lane!

Glidden entered eliminations as the No. 13 qualifier and raced past Steve Matusek, Troy Coughlin and No. 1 qualifier Mike Janis to make it to the final round. Glidden, the son of 10-time NHRA Pro Stock world champ Bob Glidden, is second in championship points.

Don Walsh, the No. 2 qualifier, sprinted past Mike Knowles, Kevin Fiscus and Gainesville winner Bob Rahaim to make it to his final round appearance of the season. Walsh remains the leader in the points category.

The event included numerous performance highlights not the least of which was a stunning 5.775 secs run by the Chevy Camaro driven by Western New York’s Mike Janis. That pole qualifying effort was the quickest run by a supercharged car in Pro Mod class history.

Mike Janis clocked the quickest supercharged Pro Mod run ever!

The weekend’s Pro Mod competition at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park was co-presented by Smithfield Foods and Western Beef and is the fourth of 10 events in the season.

Smithfield Foods and Western Beef as co-presenting sponsors for the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Toyota NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, June 4-7, in Englishtown, N.J. The race is the fourth of 10 events for the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series in 2015.

“We have enjoyed tremendous success through our motorsports program in recent years, and are excited to take our first step into the Pro Mod series this weekend,” said Bob Weber, vice president of corporate marketing for Smithfield Foods. “This sponsorship provides us with an opportunity to expand our reach among racing fans, who we know enjoy our high-quality products such as bacon, ham, ribs, and marinated tenderloins. We’re proud and excited to be a part of this series with our valued retail partner, Western Beef.”

Smithfield Foods is a global food company that is committed to providing millions with food ethically and responsibly. As one of the world’s preeminent pork suppliers, Smithfield Foods has grown dramatically since its beginning in 1936 and is now a $15 billion company. Now, Smithfield is teaming up with one of the world’s fastest motorsports to bring fans the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Series races in Englishtown.

Western Beef consists of 28 high volume warehouse style supermarkets operating in New York, New Jersey and Florida. Western Beef, also a sponsor of Mike Castellana’s Pro Mod team, prides itself on knowing its neighborhoods and custom tailoring each store to offer the highest quality product at the best value to its customers. It offers a number of specialty services as well as a full line of groceries, dairy products and frozen foods at a discounted price all under one roof.

Ontario’s Eric Latino had a strong 5.884 secs qualifier run!

BELL / FISCUS RACING – E-Town Post Race Update

(BFR) proved they’ve got what it takes to compete with the top teams as both BFR drivers qualified well in the quickest NHRA Pro Mod field in history at the 46th annual Toyota NHRA Summernationals race at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey on June 5-7, 2015.

Jim Bell’s first Pro Mod qualifying run with his twin turbocharged, Pro Line Racing 481X-powered 1969 Chevrolet Camaro was a clean 6.011 at 232.43 mph blast which showed a lot of promise. For round two, Bell launched hard off the line and recorded a 1.002-second 60-foot time. He kept the car hooked up well and continued on to trip the beams in just 5.925 seconds at 236.88 mph, which was his best run of the weekend. For his third and final qualifying run, Bell showed a lot of consistency and went 5.941 at 238.22 mph to rank fourteenth overall, just 0.15-seconds off number one qualifier Mike Janis’ 5.775 ET.

Edmonton’s Jim Bell qualified #14

Teammate Kevin Fiscus also had some great runs in Pro Mod qualifying with his twin turbo, PLR-powered 2012 Ford Mustang. For his first hit, Fiscus went 5.949 at 248.16 mph. He improved significantly in round two, and the resulting 5.861 at 249.26 mph run also included a fantastic 0.989-second 60-foot time. Although his 5.873 at 250.32 mph pass in round three didn’t best his earlier numbers, Fiscus went straight down the grove and showed that his car was performing exactly as he wanted it to. As a result, he qualified seventh overall in the extremely competitive field, a mere 0.086-seconds behind the class leader.

In eliminations, Bell faced off against Bob Rahaim, the #3 qualifier, in round one. The two drivers cut almost identical lights, and left the line together. Rahaim held a slight advantage over Bell and continued on to finish in front of the BFR driver by approximately fourteen feet. Fiscus, however, gave spectators an “edge of their seat” performance in the first round. His opponent, Eric Latino, qualified in the #10 position. Latino left the line first and held the lead for most of the run, but Fiscus was able to chase him down at the last second for the win. It was an incredibly close race – Fiscus won by 0.0024 seconds, which equated to approximately ten inches! Unfortunately, Fiscus’ luck wore off in round two when he was paired against a fellow turbocharged driver, Don Walsh Jr., who had qualified #2. Walsh had the starting line advantage, but Fiscus rallied to regain the lead. Walsh was able to make up the difference, though, and passed Fiscus as they neared the stripe.

Kevin Fiscus’s JB’s Power Centre Ford Mustang

“It was so exciting to have both of our cars perform so well, and to say that we were a part of the quickest qualifying field in NHRA Pro Modified history,” said Bell. “The numbers the cars ran, and the data we recorded, proves that we are definitely on the right path and all of our hard work is paying off. That’s a great feeling.”

Both Bell and Fiscus will be competing in the Pro Mod class at the 15th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, TN on June 19th-21st, 2015 as the Bell/Fiscus Racing team continues their 23-race commitment for the 2015 season.

Posted with files from Bruce Biegler, Scott Smith, Nicole Erickson and Ainsley Jacobs

Photos by: Bruce Biegler & Dave DeAngelis

To view addition Pro Mod racing photos for NHRA Englishtown visit the event photo gallery: HERE