NASCAR careerįlock sat out the 19 seasons because of his injuries. World War IIįlock was in the United States Army Air Corps for four years during World War II. He was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, having suffered a crushed chest, broken pelvis, head and back injuries, and severe shock. The seatbelt broke during the rolling, and Flock was tossed around. Flock rolled and landed upside down in bushes. Flock took the early lead, before he and Hall got together in the south turn. He qualified in the pole position for the Jrace at the Daytona Beach Road Course beside Roy Hall. "It was fun, and besides we could send to California to get special parts to modify our cars, and the sheriff couldn't afford to do that." Early careerįlock won a 100-mile race at Lakewood Speedway Park in Atlanta, Georgia in 1940. "I used to deliberately seek out the sheriff and get him to chase me," he later recalled. He used his car to deliver moonshine as he got older. He started delivering on his bicycle as a teenager. Like many early NASCAR drivers, Flock's career began by delivering illegal moonshine. Ethel beat Fonty and Bob by finishing in eleventh. The four raced at the Jrace at the Daytona Beach Road Course, which was the first event to feature a brother and a sister, and the only NASCAR event to feature four siblings. The incident cost him a certain victory, as he finished third to Speedy Thompson.Īnd that was the end of a short, but spectacular racing career for NASCAR's most successful monkey.He was the brother of NASCAR pioneers Tim Flock and Bob Flock, and the second female NASCAR driver Ethel Mobley. Tim was forced to pit and handed the monkey to a crewman. He raced around the car, eventually jumping on Tim's head, screaming and clawing at him. Jocko got out of his seatbelt and during the race got struck in the head with a pebble. 91, the same number as Flock's Hudson Hornet.Īlas, the fun and games ended permanently on May 30, during the running of the Raleigh 300.
Tim won a 200-lap race at Hickory, N.C., on May 16, 1953, with Jocko as his passenger.Īs legend has it, fans were enamored with the little monkey, who had his own driving suit, with No. Bob Flock won four races, Fonty captured 19 and Tim would win 39, including two series championships before banned for life by NASCAR founder Big Bill France for trying to unionize the drivers in the early 1960s.īut Tim's greatest claim to fame is that he competed in eight NASCAR Grand National - today's Sprint Cup Series - races in 1953 with a live Rhesus monkey in his car. Ethel was named for the high-test gasoline her late father favored.īob, Fonty and Tim would go to win 62 races in what is now known as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, which trails only the 94 won by Bobby and Donnie Allison and the 88 captured by Darrell and Michael Waltrip. Another sister, Ethel Flock Mobley, both raced stock cars and was a Hollywood stunt double for Mary Pickford and Joan Crawford, among others. Sister Reo, named after Ransom Eli Olds of Oldsmobile fame, worked for a time as wing-walker. There were a total of eight surviving Flock children - one died at birth - with brothers Carl, Bob, Fonty and Tim all taking turns as moonshine runners for their uncle, Peachtree Williams, the most successful bootlegger in Atlanta in the pre-World War II days. When it comes to the history of NASCAR racers, none were more colorful than the Flock family, stars of the sport's early days. In honor of Flock, here is the story of the driver and the monkey he used to race with.
Editor's note: NASCAR Hall of Fame racer and two-time NASCAR Premier Series champion Tim Flock was born 92 years ago today.