Brian Ambrosini - AMC Gremlin - Wheelie Competition - Winner!
*** Please Read the Video Info ***
Crazy wheelstand from an AMC Gremlin? Has to be seen to be believed. Be sure to pause it and observe that he had all 4 wheels off the ground. Car was on it's bumper only. This was at the World Power Wheelstanding Competition in Byron, IL. in 2006. FYI - this is not my car. Please keep comments clean and intelligent. If they fall outside those limits, I won't approve them. This video and all rights are exclusive copyright of Jack Davis Video Productions.
arnie beswick
arnie the farmer beswick at byron dragway
Arnie Beswick's "Mystery Tornado" '64 GTO and longnose '66 GTO racing at Cordova Dragway 6-26-10
This match race took place during the 2010 NostalgiaFest at historic Cordova Dragway, in Cordova, Illinois and was the first of two races by the pair. The '64 car is a clone of the original "Mystery Tornado", while the '66 car is the restored original racer driven by Arnie Beswick during the 1966 and '67 seasons. Both cars ran in the 11 second range.
70 Double Blown GTO
My 1970 GTO with two blowers. It's 474ci Pontiac engine with a 8-71 blower on top of a 6-71 blower. This is from the last day of being double blown. I'm going to one single 8-71 blower and going racing. The front clip was removed to make it easier to work on. The reason for the double blowers was not as a power enhancement like many ASSume. I stacked the blowers to have a car that stood out in the crowd. Most Pro Street cars were starting to blend together. If you seen one, you had seen them all. That wasn't the case with this GTO. Al someone had to say was "The double blower GTO" and people knew which car. I was told it couldn't be done, so I attempted it and it worked. It stayed that way for almost 2 years. I knew a twin turbo setup would make more HP. I knew I could have run a 14-71 blower and made more power. That wasn't the point. I wanted to be different than the other cars in the parking lot, I did that now it's time to ove on. For all those people who don't understand why, I'm not going to try and explain it to you anymore. Get over it. I didn't expect EVERYONE to love it. But you won't forget it.
Arnie "Farmer" Beswick
Still getting it done at 80 years young. Exhibition run at the 25th Super Stock Reunion. Piedmont Dragway 05-15-2010
http://www.arniebeswick.com/
Jungle Jim and Jungle Pam - Drag Racing Legends
Years before John Force arrived on the scene, drag racing's original flamboyant showman was "Jungle Jim" Liberman; a larger-than-life individual whose flaming burnouts, glib personality, and boundless energy helped endear him to fans in a manner that eluded other drivers with better winning records.
Liberman was much more than a touring professional; with his wild wheelstands, 100-mph backups from burnouts, stubborn refusal to lift on even the most out-of-shape runs, and his curvaceous companion, "Jungle Pam" Hardy, Liberman provided all the entertainment of a traveling circus.
Liberman's life, like the lives of many fast-living icons of youth such as James Dean, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin, was as short as it was fast-paced. He died at the age of 32 after suffering fatal injuries in a head-on collision with a bus on Sept. 9, 1977. His premature passing left a void in the sport that wasn't replaced until Force's explosive personality emerged in the late 1980s.
Today, the legend of "Jungle Jim" lives on with "Jungle Pam," his constant companion in his heyday who titillated race fans with her skimpy outfits and provocative on-track actions.
"At every race track that I go to," said Hardy, "everyone comes up and asks for my autograph. They ask what he was like and if he was as crazy as they've heard. The fans really miss him, and they miss the fun part of drag racing. The sport has become so professional now that there's no room for any of that anymore."
"I was just 18 when I met him. I was still attending high school in West Chester, Pa., and had never been further away from home than the next town over. I was walking down the street one day, and here comes this yellow Corvette speeding down the street. This guy walks out, comes up to me, and says, "Hi, I'm Jim."
I had never been to a drag race before, but the next thing I knew, we we're heading for his match race in Xenia, Ohio. He showed me how to back him up after the burnouts, and from then on, my life was just a whirlwind tour all over the country."
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song "American Girl" was released in 1977, the same year Jungle Jim passed away.
Well she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
Yeah, and if she had to die
Tryin' she had one little promise
She was gonna keep
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
It was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
She could hear the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin' in the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God it's so painful
Something that's so close
And still so far out of reach
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
This video was created from clips from the Diamond P video "Fabulous Floppers" and photos that I took of some of Jungle Jim's cars at 131 Dragway back in the '60s. The photos of Jungle Jim and Pam at 1:48, 1:53 and 1:59 are courtesy of Tom McCrea tmccrea. Photo at 2:36 is by Steve Scott. Other pictures are from unknown photographers.
