Glidden chased Lee Shepherd for the 1980 Winston title all season, leading the points standing only after the final race. He won his fifth overall and third straight championship at the final event. He caught a break when Shepherd broke his transmission in the second round. Glidden set the low e.t. and top speed in his final round win to earn the maximum points and the season championship. Shepherd won the 1981 to 1984 Pro Stock championships. When NHRA went to its new limit in 1982, Glidden was caught unprepared. He was having chassis builder Don Hardy build a new EXP for the season and was planning on running a 351 Cleveland, in the car. With the new rules, he was forced to use the big Boss 429 in the short wheelbase car. The results were, as Glidden put it, "the worst handling race car he ever drove." He went on to state it drove like a fuel altered. In spite of this, he won one event, the Springnationals, and was runner-up in another three events. After that season, both he and Ford teammate Rickie Smith debuted new w Ford Thunderbirds at the 1983 season opening Winternationals at Pomona. The new car did extremely well, qualifying first and setting set top speed of the meet at en route to a runner-up finish. The rest of the 1983 season went well with Glidden picking up victories at NHRA's Springnationals, Mile High Nationals, and Northstar Nationals; at the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, he set a new IRP e.t. record of 7.68 seconds. He ended the season at the NHRA World Finals at OCIR, and while he lost in the semi-finals, he did set a new NHRA Pro Stock speed record of . Glidden received a new Thunderbird in the middle of the 1984 season, and it quickly became the dominant car on the Pro Stock circuit. Glidden led the 1985 points standings from start to finish, winning five national events. It was his sixth Pro Stock championship.