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New DVD explores life of Funny Car pioneer Zeigler

Phillip Gary Smith, go2geiger Media Columnist
Tuesday, 02 February 2010

Twig Zeigler

Was it 1972 or 2008? That’s what nostalgia drag racing will do to you. One forgets the time, even what year it is, or was.

When Funny Car pioneer Twig Ziegler staged his gloss orange Pizza Haven Funny Car across from the famous Bubble-Up machine a couple of years ago, it definitely was a Yogi Berra "deja-vu all over again" moment...just one with a quarter-century interruption.

This documentary traces Twig’s self-taught mechanical expertise and early trade school training to the point where he taught college courses in auto and diesel mechanics himself at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Ore.

It's a heartwarming story of determination on his part and love of the man and his knowledge by his students, who once transported Twig to class for an entire semester -- even though he was incapacitated after a horrifying top-end crash and confined to a wheelchair -- rather than face cancellation of his course. The students wanted this master training them. He told me, "It was the best college term of my life."

Twig's rolling, tumbling accident, recreated in the DVD from television footage at the scene, details a scary situation along with this somewhat humorous, understated headline in the local newspaper: "Ziegler’s Season Starts on Bad Note." Gee, you think?

In many ways, the wreck defines his life, as it was his same determination, honor, and caring of others illustrated throughout this movie that got him through the recovery process and his life in general.

A little unconventional compared to his contemporaries, as exemplified by a lengthy break in racing simply because dad needed to be at home with his family.

This story really is a tale of three Twigs. One is the longhaired, bearded fellow in the early 1970s, looking like there was not a care in the world. He gently reminded me, "When racing in the 70s, there was the hippie movement."

Then there is "Big Time" Twig, when he was a top qualifier at Indy, setting a top speed record, for a round, at Pomona, racing with all of the names of the times like Prudhomme, Force, Dunn, Leong, and McCulloch. "We were like a band of gypsies. We were on the road every night of the week on the Coca-Cola Circuit."

Now there is a renewed Twig, totally absorbed in Nostalgia Fuel Funny Car drag racing. He truly embraces the limelight, taking to it like a summer’s moth smothering a Georgia porch light.

The DVD takes fully advantage of his South Dakota narrative voice, directing the viewer through his life one crash at a time. This distinguished, well-spoken racer today looks little like the oil-splattered mechanic/driver fighting a Funny Car back in the day. Part of that change came after his Boise crash, the one occurring during his teaching duties.

"After the crash, I said I would shave the beard and cut the hair as soon as I could get out of the wheelchair." In the aftermath, a handsome, distinguished pioneer of the sport of drag racing was unveiled.

Twig Ziegler is one of the good guys. At the 2009 Las Vegas Nationals, just before the final runs of the race weekend, he was honored by running an exhibition lap in the Pizza Ranch Funny Car. He lamented, "This Nostalgia hot rod is the first time I’ve ever had to slow down a dragster!" Afterward, John Force told him, "I can remember you kickin’ my ass in Seattle." Twig quipped, "Yeah, and Spokane, too."

Twig’s appreciation of John Force’s accomplishments parallels his own in many ways. Not the championships, not the national events won, but in the digging and scratching to race without the advantages of "being shot in the butt with diamonds," as Don Prudhomme called those who came to the track with buckets of family money.

Force told him, "I have to bring all my crew over to see your car," explaining the young age of many crewmembers of his consortium had never seen such a hot rod up close. "That is where we got started."

For not winning a national event, Twig certainly earned a highlight reel to rival most. The movie details the famous side-by-side duel of Kenny Goodell and Twig where Goodell’s car erupts in flames with a memorable photo snapped just as the yellow of the torch was enveloping the body, wheel wells, and frame. The DVD nicely ties in the parallel of Twig giving his descriptions and on the other part of the screen the photo or action he is referencing.

Then there was, perhaps, his most famous crash, an upside down flight down the track in Seattle 1976. Captured by photographer Larry Fitster just before the soaring Funny Car, inches away, touched the pavement, it looked "basically like an airplane," Twig explained. The photo lives in infamy. "Nobody remembers my top qualifying, but you mention my name and they’ll say, 'Oh, you mean the upside down flying Satellite!'"

This is an hour-long course in thrilling drag racing history filled with anxieties, authentic human emotion…a boy whose dad was killed in Okinawa just five days after his birth, grows up to the big time…and lots and lots of hot rods. Moreover, there is a special 14 minutes of his appearance at Oregon’s Woodburn Dragway in 2009. If you have never known this drag racing soldier, by the end of the show you will respect him, embrace his warmth, and be stirred by his wonderful heart. Every one needs a little Twig in their lives.

In addition, a special highlight, a question you no doubt are wondering by now, an answer not easy to come by -- where did the name ‘Twig’ come from? "Well," he begins, "it all started with my skinny older brother who wrestled in high school. With his diminutive size, he was teased with the kids sticking him with the name 'bear' as a kind of a joke. So, I come along as a runner and being a little heavy. There was a famous model at the time, Twiggy, who was sticks and bones in size. So they nicknamed me 'Twig' after her. And it stuck."

The production quality of Twig Zeigler’s DVD is high; special effects and action dynamics make the time zip; CLS Productions has put together a winning movie about a winner of life, Twig Ziegler.

E-mail CLS Productions via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and grab a copy. Then, share it! In this age of so many who are dissatisfied, The Twig Ziegler Story is uplifting, proving the merit of motivational guru, Zig Ziglar’s admonition, "It's not what you've got, it's what you use that makes a difference."

Here is a bonus: a YouTube clip of Twig racing against a Jet Funny Car. Twig pulls off one of his famous John-Force-like burnouts, smokin’ nearly full track, and then a win:

http://bigfunny.net/video/4246/Twig-Zeigler-up-against-a-jet-funny-car,Mission-B.C..html

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