Jake White

Jake White - President --  jake.white@cj-8.org

I remember the first Scrambler I ever saw.  It was in a Taco Bell parking lot in Pelham, AL around 1992 or so.  I was with my Dad and I remember he and I talking about Scramblers for a while after seeing that one.  I was hooked.  After turning 16, we were looking for a vehicle for me to drive.  We looked at all sorts of vehicles.  One particular day, Dad told me he’d seen a Scrambler for sale on his way home from work and asked if I’d want to go look at it.  It came home with us the next day. 

I drove that Scrambler through the rest of High School and another 6 ½ years of undergrad and graduate school.  I drove that Jeep daily, everywhere.  I worked for a summer camp, Camp Winnataska, outside of Birmingham, AL where the Scrambler served as an all around utility vehicle pulling folks out of ditches, dragging felled trees, even hauling camper luggage.  My wife Jennifer and I even went on our first date in this Jeep. Everybody I knew growing up, knew me by that Jeep.  The Scrambler was taken out of commission around December 2004 due to a cracked block.  For the next few years, I’ve been actively acquiring parts one by one to do a frame off “resto-mod” of it.  I’ve also been building a Scrambler in my garage, owned by one of our members here. In the mean time, I’ve been to three National Scrambles taking pictures of the event for our website and mailing out DVD’s to attendees. 

In the summer of 2008, something amazing happened.  After selling a number of Charity 8 Project Scrambler raffle tickets, I bought the 9 remaining tickets in the second bundle of 50 or so that Jason Adams had mailed me.  Many of you know the story from here.  Clayton, Ok Scramble, the first one of those 9 tickets that I had bought, was the winning ticket drawn.  I drove it home 640 miles from Clayton, OK.  I’ll never forget that drive for as long as I’m alive. 

Since then, I’ve done a few modifications to it just for function, all the while, trying to keep it in check with the original theme of the build.  I brought my Dad along for the drive to Hot Springs for the 2009 National Scramble in Hot Springs.  He and I had an absolute blast.  It was a wonderful feeling to be behind the wheel of a Scrambler again.  This experience was even more rewarding to me personally because it allowed me to kind of “pay-back” my Dad for all of the years he spent helping me keeping my old green Scrambler running so I could get to and from school, etc.  There is no telling how many hours he and I spent together working on that one and it sure was nice for he and I to enjoy that time together.  He even got a day behind the wheel leading a trail ride one day.  

 I look forward to the next two years serving as your President of the Scrambler Owners Association, giving back to an organization of folks that have done so much for me.  Scramble on!