Co-drivers are a less common sight in NASCAR. But what is even more uncommon is a monkey winning a race as a co-driver! This is truly one of the sport’s “you can’t make this up” moments, when, in 1953, a monkey was technically a race winner. And he also remains the only one up to date.
During the sport’s initial years, the regulations did not have a specific rule that barred having your pet as a co-driver in the car. While this sounds like an extraordinary idea, one driver did not find it weird and made full use of it.
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Jocko Flocko, the race-winning NASCAR monkey
Tim Flock was one of the oldest and most proven NASCAR drivers, having raced since 1949. He won multiple races before entering the 1953 season, when his crew thought of an amazing publicity stunt. They got an actual monkey beside him in eight races that season.
Jocko Flocko, a rhesus monkey, was his co-driver. Compared to usual monkeys, rhesus monkeys are more intelligent and adaptable. They tolerate stress better. They can also handle loud environments, crowds, and confinement better, which explains why Jocko Flocko could handle the NASCAR spotlight.
Jocko Flocko’s primate instincts captured the public’s attention, and he became the star of the garage. At one point, many were attending the races just to see him sit beside Tim Flock and have competitive finishes. However, 1953 also turned out to be a subpar season for Flock, as he wasn’t winning half as many races as he did the season prior.
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This was when they went racing down at Hickory Motor Speedway on May 16, and he delivered his season’s only race win. Yet, the more exciting factor wasn’t him but his co-driver, Jocko Flocko. While he wasn’t driving, sitting in the car as the co-driver gave him the privilege to be the only race-winning monkey in NASCAR history, 73 years ago. This also made the #91 Hudson quite popular.
That win saw the last one for Flock in the No. 91. Post that, he changed sides but continued racing, and enjoyed championship success in 1955.
In more recent years, however, the sport has evolved. NASCAR currently seems nothing like it used to back in the day, with major revamps for safety and competitiveness. Hence, the regulations don’t allow co-drivers, and especially not animals.
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The latter is also because of animal rights, which weren’t very prominent at the time. But there is a whole other safety aspect as well, which also brought an end to Jocko Flocko’s entry in the races.
Why did Jocko Flocko stop running the races?
A monkey sitting in the co-driver’s seat sounds rather goofy and cute. But at the end of the day, the monkey has to be sitting down on the seat to keep it that way. But as it seemed, Jocko Flocko had discovered free will, and having seen Tim Flock open the trap door in the car throughout the races, Flocko also did that. This was where trouble began.
Tim Flock and his monkey copilot Jocko Flocko (@DanTorsiello)
“Back then the cars had a trap door that we could pull open with a chain to check our tire wear. Well, during the Raleigh 300, Jocko got loose from his seat and stuck his head through the trap door, and he went berserk!
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“Listen, it was hard enough to drive those heavy old cars back then under normal circumstances, but with a crazed monkey clawing you at the same time, it becomes nearly impossible!” Flock said in a later interview.
“I had to come into the pits to put him out and ended up third. The pit stop cost me second place and a $600.00 difference in my paycheck. Jocko was retired immediately. I had to get that monkey off my back!”
While this cost him quite a bit, it also made sure that no more monkeys were alongside the drivers in the future. Owing to this, Jocko Flocko remains the only monkey that ever ran a NASCAR event; moreover, managed to win one of those.
The post NASCAR’s Most Unbelievable Moment: The Time When a Monkey Won a Race 73 Years Ago appeared first on EssentiallySports.
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