Judging by the dozens of emails I received after our last blog was published, there has never been a more popular Funny Car driver than "Jungle Jim" Liberman. I know that's a pretty bold statement to make but I honestly believe it. Most of you younger drag racing fans never got to see drag racing's greatest showman in action but there's still a lot of "Jungle" fans out there who wrote to tell me their "Jungle" stories, some of which I'll post in upcoming blogs. 

Anyway, most everyone who emailed wanted more photos and stories so here's a couple of photos I dug out of the vault for you.

First up, thanks to Mike Ditty, this is "Jungle's" first car that he owned and drove (in, I believe, 1966) after leaving the seat of Lew Arrington's Brutus Pontiac. He built it himself with the help of Goodies Speed Shop and it was powered by a big-block Chevy that "Jungle" also put together. This was the first car to have "Jungle Jim" on the side and it had a tendency to wheelstand a lot, but just like the 1974 Summernationals final round, "Jungle" rode out the wheelies endearing himself to thousands of fans. Cool car, huh?

"Jungle" was a rare breed in the sport. He was a one-man gang when it came to racing. He could do anything and everything it took to race a nitro Funny Car. He was a master welder and built a couple of his own cars. He could fabricate anything, he built the engines and tuned it himself and in between rounds he took wrenches in hand and went to work. Then he'd put on his firesuit and drive the car!

Here's a shot that I think conveys exactly what I mean. "Jungle" with his shirt off and a blower/injector in his arms during a between rounds thrash. He was an animal. I wonder how many nostalgia guys Funny Car racers would like to have that Crower injector right now?

Next up is the softer side of Jungle. In mid-summer of 1976, "Jungle" (with the help of the late Vinnie Napp of Englishtown fame) put together a sponsorship deal with the 7-Eleven convenience stores for the 1977 season. 7-Eleven's favorite charity was the Muscular Dystrophy Association and to help promote their annual telethon on Labor Day weekend "Jungle" agreed to haul his car up to Jerry Lewis' house in the Hollywood hills for a photo op with Jerry and the MD Poster Child Dereck Reeves. For once in his life "Jungle" was on time for the photo shoot and he and Dereck had to wait for a couple of hours before Mr. Lewis showed up. Here's the end result, this photo was up on the big screen on the nationally televised 1976 MD Telethon when 7-Eleven gave Jerry their contribution and Lewis even mentioned "Jungle" by name. I remember the moment like it was yesterday. Wish I hade a VCR back then...

In other news I got a call this week from my old friend Dick Rosberg, a former Funny Car pilot (Fighting Irish/Stroh's Firebird) who now runs the "Thriller" jet dragster, asking me what I was doing next weekend. I told him "I don't know, why?" Turns out he's match racing Nov. 29-30 at the all-new Palm Beach International Raceway (former Moroso Motorsports Park) at the NHRA Citrus Nationals and asked if I could come along and help him out as he's shorthanded. 

Here was my thought process...I get to go to Florida for a long weekend, get to go to a race at the all-new PBIR, get to visit my BFF Captain Edzo (who lives just 15 minutes from the track) and get out of town for a few days and enjoy some nice weather. No-brainer for Bob. .08 seconds later I jumped on the bandwagon so look out South Florida, if you're going to be at the Citrus Nationals make sure you stop by and say hi. 

So I'm driving 80 miles over to Dick's house in Rockingham on Thursday, having Thanksgiving dinner there then we're hoping in the duallie and driving all night to arrive in Fort Pierce on Friday morning where we'll be meeting up with friends of Dick's who have a, believe it or not, twin-engine jet boat and we're going to fire it up for the first time. Then Friday afternoon we'll cruise down to the track, drop the trailer off and then it's off to Ed's for maybe an early Saturday morning fishing trip if the weather cooperates. Race Saturday night and Sunday afternoon then head back to N.C. arriving back home Monday morning. Sounds like to fun to me...

Hopefully I'll be able to blog one more time before I head out but if I don't on behalf of all of us here at Terminator Motorsports have a happy Thanksgiving.

BB