Jocko and Mojo

By Amy Hair
Cup Scene Daily
December 16
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Remember those few times when the race would be rain delayed and all of a sudden we were getting interviews that included all the racing “pets” on the circuit?

We met dogs and cats…and a monkey named Mojo. Tony Stewart was the fellow that laid claim to this mischievous little fellow. To look at Mojo, you could almost see his little brain processing faster than lightening…looking for the next thing he could jump onto, take apart, or taste. This little guy is a Patas monkey, a primate that when full-grown can run up to 50 mph, the fastest in the family of primates. Seems only fitting that Tony would have a pet that runs faster than anyone else’s.

-(Cont'd from front page) So you think this was the only monkey in NASCAR? While rummaging through the history of NASCAR, I came across another fellow that chose this sport for his career that just happened to lose a race because of a little rhesus monkey.

At the beginning of the 1953 Grand National (now known as NASCAR), a Hudson team owner named Ted Chester came up with what he thought was a brilliant marketing idea. After contemplating just what kind of gimmick would be an eye catching and curiosity arouser, Mr. Chester decided on a monkey.

The driver of one of the Hudson’s on the team was Tim Flock. I wonder if he looked at Chester with a face of disbelief and wondered if the man had been hitting the moonshine just a bit too much when the idea was presented. But at any rate, the monkey, already named Jocko, joined the crew and his racing career started shortly there after. Tim gave Jocko the last name of Flocko, and so little Jocko Flocko became the star of the show.

Jocko had his own special passenger seat to ride in and a seamstress made a form fitting racing suit for him, complete with a helmet. The season progressed and the crowd really liked seeing Flock go flying by with Jocko in his suit. Jocko even got to enjoy the stardom of a win when Flock won the raced at Hickory in May of 1953.

Not too long after the win, another race proved to be the most memorable for both Jocko and Flock.

In Flocks words… “Before we had special durable racing tires, there was a cable attached to a trap door over the right front wheel well”. This cable was pulled on occasionally during the race by the driver. The cable would lift a trap door open so the driver could check for wear.

“In the 300-mile race at Raleigh, we had a little problem with Jocko. Late in the race, while I was running second, he broke loose from his seat and he jumped down on the floorboard. He yanked that cable and opened the trap door – right as I ran over a rock on the track. The rock zinged Jocko right between the eyes. He went crazy. He jumped on my neck and started scratching me to the point I almost wrecked a couple of times. Finally, I had to make a pit stop so we could put Jocko out of the car. I’m the only driver in NASCAR history to lose a race because we had to pit to get rid of a monkey” Flock recalled with a smile.

I bet that was a sight to see…actually just seeing the cable and trap door would have been enough to mesmerize me. How the heck did someone traveling that fast have the time to find the cable, yank it, look through the hole and see how the tire was wearing. Besides, when they’re going over 100 mph…don’t tires all look the same? Black and blurry?

While Jocko was a brief spot in NASCAR’s colorful past, Tim Flock was not. During his racing career of 13 years, he won 40 races. Flock won the Grand National Title twice, once in 1952 and again in ’59. He had 32 top five finishes, 33 top ten. He had 19 poles in one year, and is the only driver that can claim a win in all three NASCAR divisions that existed then…Grand National, Modified and Convertible.

To me, he was a cool customer. You would see a bunch of them drivers running sideways and doing all. Tim would just be running around. When the race was over, Tim won. Them guys were still running sideways.

-- Richard Petty, from ESPN Classic's SportsCentury series

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