People of NASCAR: Jocko Flocko
Wednesday, December 6th, 2006 10:43pm EST
By Frank Morrison, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
[thumb:387:l] In Early 1953 Hudson owner Ted Chester was shopping for a family member in an Atlanta pet shop. While browsing Chester noticed a Rhesus Monkey. Chester bought the monkey with a strange idea in his head. He thought the monkey would make a good teammate for Tim Flock by driving in the car with him as a fun gimmick for the younger fans that came to the Tracks to watch the race. When Chester approached Tim with the idea Tim thought Chester had drank one to many adult beverages. The more Tim thought about the idea the more he liked the idea of the little monkey riding around the track with him.
The next task was getting NASCAR to sign off on the idea. The plan turned into it is easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission. It was an interesting thing when Tim passed the first few drivers in the early part of the race. Some drivers almost hit the wall as they looked over and saw Jocko sitting in his custom made seat on the dash. In Jocko’s first race the Flock and Flocko combo took 4th place at Charlotte.
The code of conduct for NASCAR was not as strict as it is now(My vote is let Tony Stewart ride with Kurt Busch on the dash) since Jocko had already driven in the car with Tim Jocko was allowed to stay in the car as long as Tim wanted him there. Before the races Tim would walk around the stands with Jocko and let kids play with the monkey a lot of kids would give Jocko peanuts and Jocko would do tricks for them.
Jocko took 5th at Langhorne, 6th at Macon, and 2nd at Columbia. Jocko’s first and only win came on May 16, 1953 at Hickory. Victory lane Celebration was one for the ages. Two weeks after Flock/Flocko win Jocko ran in his last race. In 1950’s NASCAR cars there was a cable to pull to check the wear on the tires. Jocko had watched Tim pull the cable hundreds of times. During the race at Raleigh there was a problem with Jocko. Late in the race Tim was running second and Jocko had broke loose from his seat and jumped to the floorboard. Jocko pulled the cable that opened the trap door that allowed drivers to check the tires and as the door opened Tim ran over a rock and it hit Jocko between the eyes. Jocko went nuts and jumped on Tim’s neck and started scratching Tim. Tim had to make a pitstop to get the Monkey off his back.
Tim is the only driver in NASCAR history to loose a race for removal of animals from the car. After the Raleigh incident Tim decided Jocko could no longer ride with him. The kids at the track were so let down that Tim would say he had to fire Jocko because he couldn’t sign autographs. Jocko’s career consisted of 8 starts 1 win and six top 10’s not bad stats for a rookie.
See ya’ll next week with a highlight of 1955 and a break from the norm on Wednesday with a story of the first road course built for Stock Car racing only.
Filed Under: Features, Frank Morrison, Guest Authors, Nascar, The People Of Nascar
Trackback URL for: People of NASCAR: Jocko Flocko
Loading...
