Tim Flock

Julius Timothy "Tim" Flock (born May 11, 1924 in Fort Payne , Alabama , † March 31, 1998 ) was an American NASCAR racing driver and two-time champion in the Winston Cup. Tim Flock was the brother of Ethel Mobley , the second woman in NASCAR racing, as well as Bob Flock and Fonty Flock . Tim Flock died on March 31, 1998 of lung and liver cancer at the age of 73.

NASCAR career

In the first race in NASCAR's Strictly Stock Cup series in 1949 at Charlotte Speedway in Charlotte , North Carolina , Flock finished fifth. In the championship standings, he was eighth at the end of the season, while his brother Fonty finished fifth and Bob third, the latter with a win. In the 1950 season he took part in only twelve of a total of 19 races and had to recover from a serious accident at Charlotte Speedway in which four cars were involved. Nevertheless, he also achieved his first NASCAR victory in the same year at Charlotte Speedway.

Tim Flock's Ford

In the 1951 season, Flock won a total of seven races and took third place in the final table of the championship. The 1952 season brought eight wins and four pole positions. With a lead of 106 points, he secured the first championship over Herb Thomas .

The 1953 and 1954 seasons did not go so well for Flock. In the two years he could experience only one victory and finished them in sixth and 35th in the championship.

The 1955 season, however, was a record year for Flock and NASCAR. On his way to his second title, Flock secured 19 pole positions and 18 wins in 45 races. The record number of wins lasted until 1967 when Richard "The King" Petty set a new record with 27 wins. The 19 pole positions are still the record in the Cup series as of 2007.

Trivia

• Flock won the only NASCAR race at Road America in 1956 . No further touring car series races took place on the track until the 1990s.

• When he won the Hickory Motor Speedway on May 16, 1953, Flock had a rhesus monkey named "Jocko Flocko" as a passenger in the cockpit. This monkey is the only one to ever win a car race. During the race two weeks later in Raleigh , however, an unusual incident occurred. At that time there were small flaps in the wheel arches through which the driver could check the condition of the right front tire. You just had to pull on a small chain. Jocko managed to free himself from his seat belt and pulled the chain too. He stuck his head in the wheel arch and was very shocked (but there are also suspicions that he was hit by a pebble thrown up). Tim Flock couldn't go on with the wild monkey and had to make an extra pit stop to let him out of the car. As a result, he gave away second place and finished the race in third.

Web links

• Official website
• Driver statistics on racing-reference.info