Sid Deitch

The Last Jungle Jim Monza's

Russell James "Jungle Jim" Liberman is possibly one of the most recognizable names of the glory days of 70's funny car racing. Jim was the ultimate competitor and the ultimate showman. He drove like a guy with his hair on fire and showed a passion for the sport that few others managed to do. Jim was drag racing's first Super Star.

Throughout the 70's, Revell Models had a very big involvement with sponsorship of the top funny cars of the day. Borsch, McCulloch, Liberman, Snow, Schumacher and others all had deals in place with Revell. The wild paint schemes were thought up by Revell designers and the fans ate it up. The sponsorship deals continued throughout most of the 70's but were grinding to a halt by 1976-77.

Jim was aware of the Revell deal going south, and it wasn't long before he secured a new sponsor with deep pockets. 7-11 Foods Stores had come on board. Jim's wild "Ape-man" character was toned down, and given a more refined, civilized look, although he was still swinging on a vine. As the story goes (and don't take this as gospel) Jim only ever got to test the Tangerine 7-11 body and never actually used it in competition. Sadly, Jim was killed in a highway accident in September of 77, just prior to the race where he was to debut the new paint. The 7-11 car was later run by his brother in law, Carl Ruth and wore Ruth's competition number of 124 rather than Jim's 117. The effort proved a disaster, with the car being burnt up a number of times, and was quickly sold off.

And with that, the drag racing world lost an icon.

This page is dedicated to the memory of Jim's spirit and enthusiasm.

The following pictures are my 1/25th scale versions of that forgotten weekend of testing, when the one chassis was clad in 2 different bodies. The figures in the scenes are the ones that come with the Revell kit, although a few minor details have been added to liven them up a bit. Slixx decals supplied the 7-11 markings.

 
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Jim had usually run big block Chevy power in his cars, but by the mid 70's, the Chrysler Hemi was proving to be the engine of the winners and Jim made the conversion in his last few cars. The M/T valve covers and the gold anodized Moroso oil pan are period perfect details.