Recollections of Jungle Jim
Many of you might know me from my days working in motorsports. First as a freelance writer/photographer, then at DiGard with DW and the Gatorade 88 and then off to over thirty years working at VP Racing Fuels. Growing up in suburban Philadelphia, before all of the above, I got to see an incredible showman and racer, Jungle Jim Liberman who lived in West Chester race at Maple Grove, York, and other tracks. Later, I got to meet with John Force while at VP and asked him about Jungle. Here’s what he had to say:
I raced against Jungle, and he was a one-man band. I lost to him as the “greatest car.” My car had won 13 national events in a season, and I lost to him. When people asked how I felt, I said, “I was honored to even be in the hunt with Jungle Jim.”
It isn’t just about winning championships. Jungle Jim was a winner. I’m a driver, I’m a promoter – Jungle Jim was a one-man band. He built the chassis, he tuned the race car in the old days. A lot of people did, but it’s a different world, even for as long as I’ve been around. I didn’t start winning until I brought on the Austin Coils and the other great ones.
Jungle Jim had my vote for the No. 1 Funny Car deal that NHRA did last year. I told Jungle Pam that if I was to win that, I’d be embarrassed. How could you not look at your hero and set your goals after somebody – and then someone wants to vote you that you’re better? Not a chance.
I told Phil Burgess at NHRA, “There ain’t no way I’m going to win.” Jungle Jim was old-school, he was the one I learned from. I raced with him in Edmonton, Canada, I raced with him on the East coast in Englishtown.
I told the story once that when Jungle was killed in a car crash, Vinny Knapp from Englishtown called me and said, “Don’t know nothing about you, but you do long burnouts, and I hear you can’t win a race. But you’re a showman, and I’ve lost Jungle Jim. You’re my replacement.”
Man, I was talking on water. I went all the way to Englishtown, and I when I got there, I sat down in a room and asked about getting two motel rooms and a paycheck so I could get back to California. He said, “I’m going to make you the next Jungle Jim.” I told him, “I don’t expect to be Jungle Jim,” and he almost started crying.
He said he embellished the story – which I do all the time. He said, “Nobody will replace Jungle Jim,” and he started crying. He said, “I told you that so I’d get a dummy like you here.”
But I went on to race Crazy Eddie’s Nights of Thrills, and Vinny Knapp and I became very close.
No one will ever replace Elvis, no one will ever replace Mick Jagger or Willie Nelson. It doesn’t happen. And no one will ever replace Jungle.
I hope somebody someday says that about me, but nobody wants to replace me. Who wants to be homely, crazy and stupid?
While guys like Jungle and Force were competing on the track, VP had a competition of it’s own – off track at the NHRA races with Frank and Steve LeSueur of World Wide Racing Fuels. Steve’s father Frank, both characters in their own right, didn’t just sell racing fuels he was a promoter who arranged funny car match races. I asked Steve to tell me a story about his dealings with Jungle and he gladly obliged:
Jungle was not an initial client of World Wide Agency. The booking agency started with mostly east coast cars, and Jungle was just making that transition. As the agency grew and became the east coast promoters main “store” for their booked in shows, Jungle made the transition and became one of our headliners. Jungle needed Franks help to keep twp and three cars running.
My personal interaction with Jungle would come via a weekly late night phone call. Our household went to bed at normal times. The kids about 10, the adults about 11 or 12. It regularly became a habit for Jungle to call after midnight to find out where he had to be the coming days and weekend. After the first few times, Frank would make sure that his schedule was printed on the desk and I got up and took Jungle’s phone call. It was always “Frank, where am I supposed to be on Friday?” No, Jungle , it’s Stevie. Frank’s asleep. “well get him up?” Jungle, you are supposed to be in Dover on Friday. Capitol on Saturday, and Suffolk on Sunday. ” Are you sure?” Yes. “Alright, thanks” It was truly the “Hollywood” lifestyle without much adherence to normal people’s schedule.
That Jungle personality and Frank’s more straight laced “redneck” way of doing things would occasionally clash. One night at Atco, Jungle was the headliner for one of our circuit races. Jungle was late as usual, and Frank was beginning to line up every one else for first round, swearing that he wasn’t going to pay Jungle, since he lived closer to the race track than anyone. Then here comes Jungle’s truck down the back fence line. Frank went to the pit gate and swung the gate at Jungle’s truck, telling Lieberman to “go home, he wasn’t getting paid tonight.” Frank went and started the other cars that were already in the staging lanes. As he finishing up, here comes a roar out of the pits and Jungle was driving up the staging lanes. He drove past Frank, did two burnouts, staged against his opponent and went down the track. Not even Frank LeSueur was getting in the way of Jungle putting on a show.
For me, one of the best recollections of Jungle actually involved Pam Hardy, also known as “Jungle Pam.” I was at Maple Grove for a match race or show of some sort and I was watching Jungle and his crew prep to tow to the lanes. Pam stepped inside their hauler to change tops and one of the crewmen, perhaps unaware she was in there, shut and latched the door and then jumped onto the back of the pickup’s tailgate. Suddenly Jungle asked, “Where’s Pam?” I told him they locked her in the rig!
Enjoy the day and for anyone who hasn’t been to Big Daddy’s Museum in Ocala, the NHRA Museum in Pomona, the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing in York Springs or the Simeone Museum in Philadelphia be sure to put it on the list. For you book lovers, FUELIN’ AROUND, DEADLY DRIVER, SWITCHBACK, and the modern-day B17 heist thriller THE LOST BIRD, and more, are all available on Amazon and you can find more about these reads by clicking through the BOOKS section. JK