16 Facts About Jim Liberman

Jim Liberman was a flamboyant showman who primarily toured the United States at drag racing match race events.

Jim Liberman refused to lift off the gas when a run was completely out of shape.

Jim Liberman married Roberta Louise "Bobbi" Good on August 14,1965, in Santa Clara, California.

Jim Liberman dropped out of high school in his junior year and began racing when he moved to Northern California.

Jim Liberman began drag racing in the Stock division at Fremont Raceway in 1964 and made a jump up to funny cars in 1965, driving an injected Nova on nitromethane dubbed Hercules.

In 1966, Liberman went out on his own in his first supercharged Chevy II, the first to wear the "Jungle Jim" name.

Jim Liberman won the hearts of the spectators after he did wheelstands for the full length of the track in a two-race match race against Don Nicholson.

Jim Liberman complied, and the resulting publicity only added to his legend.

Jim Liberman usually wore a tank top or skimpy halter and jean shorts with "zero-inch inseam".

Jim Liberman appeared on the February 1973 cover of Hot Rod magazine.

Jim Liberman had that sort of flair even when we were just at the house or went out some place.

Jim Liberman later married Funny Car owner Fred Frey and after they divorced, Bill Hodgson, who tunes George Reidnauer's Excalibur Corvette Nostalgia Funny Car.

Jim Liberman distrusted the NHRA and preferred the barn storming nature of match racing with its guaranteed payouts for three runs, win or lose, over racing on the NHRA circuit.

Jim Liberman had one national event win in NHRA competition at the 1975 Summernationals at Englishtown, New Jersey.

Jim Liberman drove a Vega funny car, in three distinct incarnations.

Jim Liberman was driving his Chevrolet Corvette car in West Goshen Township near West Chester, Pennsylvania when he rounded a corner on the West Chester Pike at excessive speed and collided with a SEPTA transit bus head-on September 9,1977, killing him.