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How did you become interested in drag racing?
WJ: "Actually, about 1963 or '64 was the first time that I ever went to the dragstrip (Warren and Arlene at Minnesota Dragways in 1963, right). Being raised in northern Minnesota we had a lot of open space up there. Guys would get together, and we'd have our impromptu drag races on some stretch of straight road, and in fact, there were a couple of instances where the sheriffs just blocked the road off so that we could have some fun. That's really where it started for me, plus, I've always had an extremely strong interest in mechanical things. One thing led to another, and when I moved to Minneapolis to further my education at the University of Minnesota, I was going to school at night and working during the day. I started as a welder in a structural steel shop and ended up running that whole thing, and
Was drag racing big in Minnesota at the time?
WJ:"Well, there weren't a lot of tracks in Minnesota at the time, probably only four tracks, but Wisconsin had tracks, Iowa had tracks, and obviously, Illinois and Indiana. I started running that UDRA circuit that was based out of Chicago where we would run two or three, at least a couple of tracks, on a weekend. If it was over a 500-mile drive we would run a track at one location on Saturday and then another one that was relatively close on Sunday. That was where I really got my appetite whetted for drag racing. We were racing probably just about every weekend during the summer. That's where it all started. After I had the shop paid off, I believe in about 1973 or somewhere around there, that's when I started looking at racing full time. I made the plunge in 1976, which a lot of people thought I was absolutely nuts because that was right after the first fuel crisis in this country. It kind of mushroomed from there."
Was that a big decision for you to go full-time drag racing?
WJ:"No, because I'm the type of person that once I'm committed to something, come hell or high water, I'm going to figure out how to make a living at it."
Your aptitude for engine development, where did that come from?
WJ: "That came from a very early age. I was raised on a farm in Northern Minnesota. My dad was an operating engineer who did a lot of overseas jobs in Greenland, worked in Alaska, and what not, and he was gone quite a bit of the time. Being on a farm, we had to figure out how to keep things running. My brother and I, he's a couple of years younger than I am, we were overhauling cars when we were probably 10 or 12 years old."
When did you realize that this was something you could do rather well, both building engines and horsepower?
WJ: "I don't know if I ever realized at any specific point in time if I at least had an aptitude for it. It's one of those that just progressed. It could have been when I raced someone for the first time. Like I said, we had a lot of our impromptu races on sections of the highway up in Northern Minnesota, and I always had a pretty fast car."
You've had a long relationship with GM, about as long as anyone in motorsports. How did that begin?
WJ: "That started back in 1983 when Oldsmobile wanted to commemorate the anniversary of the Hurst Olds (1984 Hurst/Olds pictured at left). They were vacillating back and forth between Glidden and myself, and I ultimately ended up with the program over there and I was with Oldsmobile until, I believe 1995 or '96, and then Pontiac basically took over Oldsmobile's contract verbatim. I've been with Pontiac ever since.
