This is the story that so many people in the world of drag racing have longed to hear. This is the story of Jungle Jim as told by Jungle Pam. It is honest, it is raw, it is informative and at the end of the day it is incredible. Drag racing has many icons and they have achieved that status by different means. Guys like Garlits and Prudhomme did it by sheer force of will and domination. Guys like Jungle Jim did it be delighting fans and putting on shows that they could not get enough of. In some ways this video dispels the myths of Jungle Jim and in others it keeps them alive.
We respect the hell out of Jungle Pam Hardy for sitting down to this interview with Bobby Bennett of CompetitionPlus.com and spilling her guts about life on the road, what her role was, and what she ultimately thought of Jungle Jim. This is a great interview because it is funny, it is touching, and at times it is heart wrenching. When Bobby asks Pam to say what she would say to Jungle Jim today, it hits in a pretty soft place. Real human emotion and experience comes to bear and we’re thankful that Pam sat for this interview to share it.
Everyone has their own mental picture of Jungle Jim and everyone has their mental picture of Jungle Pam. The truth lies with the people who lived the life, made the stories, and created those images for everyone else and that is what you will hear in this video. To us, this is the most complete look at the life and career of Jungle Pam and Jungle Jim that will ever be produced. To some the mundane nature of the existence will be a shock. To others, it’ll reinforce just how hardcore these guys and girls were.
Thanks to Bobby Bennett and CompetitionPlus.com for sharing this with us!
Press play below to see one of the neatest drag racing videos that you will ever watch –
LEGENDS: THE SERIES: THE LEGEND OF “JUNGLE” PAM HARDY from CompetitionPlusTV on Vimeo.
I was madly in love with her. We were ALL madly in love with her. Or at least in love with her image. Maybe it was just lust though I had my fantasies. I was convinced that I could have provided her with a better, more stable life though that may have been, in those days, the last thing she wanted. And how does a small town boy from Michigan compete with Jungle Jim? Besides, I lived in the real world and they were Up There!
Still love ya, Pam, though in a different way.
Dan
Any kid from the 70’s that was into drag racing had a crush on either or both, Pam Hardy or Linda Vaughn. I saw Pam more often since they frequented Englishtown.
I was lucky to see Jungle Jim & Jungle Pam the last week of August 1973,at Niagara Dragstrip, Thank You for the show. One week later I played hookie from Niagara Dragstrip and went to an LRY Conference Labor Day Weekend 1973 in Toronto Canada and met a Lanedra Carroll and her Brother Otto Carroll from Alaska and because I had a draft card for the Vietnam War Otto gave me his sisters hand in marriage and we consummated our marriage and the next day they went home to Alaska and I to Niagara Falls and I never seen her again even though I tried twice in 1974 to go to an unknown location to see Lanedra and my family thought I was crazy. They had me put,in Dr.s care at my first attemp January 1974 and in May of 1974 I failed My Senior Year of High School and one week later I heard a whisper the girl in Alaska had a daughter and named her Jewel. And in my second attempt to go to Alaska in Late May 1974 my family brought me back to the hospital and on the way to the hospital I took an overdose of LSD and woke up out of that acid trip three months later at the Special Olympic’s August 25,1974 at University of Buffalo and missed out,on the closing of Niagara Dragstrip that last day. So that singer Jewel Kilcher from Alaska is my biological daughter and her song’s
1) Foolish Games
2) Daddy
3) Enter From the East
4) the song Garth Brooks and Jewel sang on board the USS Enterprise Air Craft Carrier was about this situation.
Well if i would have gone to Niagara Dragstrip Labor Day Weekend 1973 like I was supposed to Jewel would have Never Been born.
Also You Mentioned Linda Vaughn she was the Matrion of Honor at My Older Brother’s and his Wife’s wedding October 1971 and Linda sat next to Me at the Reception and Drank Me Under the Table.
My Older Brother passed in 2004 and his Wife Moe passed in 2013
It’s strange how i never been to a dragrace ever again after seeing Jungle Jim and Jungle Pam one weekend in 1973 and meeting the mother of a Famous Singer Song writer and Movie Actress who has my DNA in her Blood and I’ll be arrested if I was to try to give her a birthday gift. Oh Well that’s life
No offence buddy,but that is one hell of a story. And again take no offence .But I think that LSD OD did a lot more damage than you think it did. Well its your story .Tell it like you want it to be heard
Well that was nice. I had the good fortune to be able to photograph Pam and Jim a few times at New England Dragway in the 1970’s from trackside. I recall being near the starting line when Jim made a run, close to Pam. One of Jim’s rear wheels came off near the end of the race, and I saw the look on Pam’s face. Jim maintained control without any harm.
We were madly in love with her boobs. Admit it.
Many a Kleenex were needlessly slaughtered when teenage boys in the 70’s saw her Hot Rod cover.
wow, I cried watching this, terrific interview.
I talked to her a couple years ago in Bowlingreen,She was there for the weekend and started one of jims restored cars. very easy to talk to. And had all the time in the world to talk. They were great in there day,and she is right.I love drag racing . However I almost have wrote off the big NHRA events . Its all controlled by big $$$.If you like the old school drag racing that she spoke about .Make a trip to one of the Hot Rod Reunions.I really miss all the days gone by ,when you could try something different on the track ,match racing.And cars with names ,not logos of companys. This was a great interview.Can you imagine being in your 20’s. owning a funny car. traveling around the country match racing. Shit it would be romantic even if I was by my self.I love that stuff . See ya in Bowlingreen Pam.
Too Bad the interviewer didn’t get her to speak of her life after drag racing. She seems like a terrific spirit and has/hopefully led and leads a life on her own terms.
She strikes me as that kind of woman. Fun to be around, laughs easily and is super, super smart about people and situations. She would be a terrific person to have in your corner.
Thanks BangShifters for running the piece, and thanks Pam for the memories. Those days were a long time ago.
It seems like yesterday.
I have always loved what they did watching this made me cry. What a sweet lady.
Thank’s for the memories !
Dean Fields
being 16-18 years old and seeing Jungle Pam at York US30 in that fishnet top is a very fond teenage memory. As she said, drag racing will never be like that ever again. Drag racing was a like the music back then, way better than today.