Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4B
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2008
Area Racing
Down the Stretch
Pollard earns win at Peach State
Jocko Flocko: The infamous racing monkey
Homer's Whitfield
also earns win
BY BRANDON REED
After two weeks of trying, the
Georgia Asphalt Series was finally
able to get their season opener in
at Peach State Speedway Sunday
afternoon.
For Senoia’s Bubba Pollard, it was
worth the wait, as he took the lead
near halfway from an ailing Russell
Fleeman, and moved away solidly to
win the opening event.
Pollard said this win was just what
he and his team needed to get their
season started.
“We had a rough last year,” he
said. “We had a couple taken away
from us last year. We needed (a win)
to get our momentum going for this
year. We’re going to win a few more,
I hope.”
Pollard started the day on the front
row, alongside Fleeman, who had
taken the top starting spot in qualify
ing earlier in the day. At the drop of
the green flag, Fleeman jumped out
front, and kept his machine there
solidly for the first half of the race.
As the event neared the half
way point, Pollard began to reel in
Fleeman, as the leader’s car began to
slow, and sparks began to show from
underneath.
On lap 47, Fleeman slowed dra
matically with a flat tire, and Pollard
made the pass for the top spot. As
Fleeman made his way to pit road,
the cars of Kevin Perry of Jefferson
and Roger Delp of Newnan tangled
on the front stretch, bringing out the
caution.
Since laps under caution do not
count, that allowed Fleeman to
change the tire, and rejoin the race
at the back of the pack without los
ing a lap.
The last caution of the day flew
when Marietta’s Cody Haskins spun
on the backstretch, while Fleeman
spun while trying to avoid Haskins.
Both were able to continue.
On the restart, Pollard pulled
away, and would not be seriously
challenged again the rest of the day.
While Pollard enjoyed about a nine-
second lead, Fleeman began thun
dering back towards the front. A
late pass on Wes Burton and Richard
Johns gave Fleeman a second place
finish. Max Gresham rounded out
the top five.
Pollard said he would have rather
been able to race Fleeman for the
victory.
“We didn’t want to win this one
this way. It was early in the race
when he went out. I would have
liked to see what we had for him.
We were still pretty quick at the
end. Even after coming in and
working on it, he still should have
been pretty good with new right side
tires. We were a little quicker on the
stopwatch at the end. I would have
liked to see how it went at the end
against him.”
Jefferson’s Nick Potts would finish
sixth, Chris Horton finished seventh,
Braselton’s Jimmy Garmon finished
in eighth, Kyle Mitchell ninth and
Jefferson’s Joey Senter finished in
10th.
The Georgia Asphalt series now
moves on to the Anderson Motor
Speedway in Anderson, S.C. for
their next event on April 11. The
tour will return to Peach State on
May 3.
It was also an interesting event for
the local divisions, where several of
the finishers were later disqualified.
First, in the mini-stock event,
William Earnest inherited the vic
tory after Troy French, who was
flagged the winner, failed post race
inspection. Ken Cadiotti was cred
ited with second, followed by Aaron
Calvert and Wayne Smith.
The scariest moment of the race
came during the mini-stock event,
when David Cochran blew an engine
on the front stretch, coming to stop
on the front straightaway.
With smoke obscuring the track,
Darrell Carlson made heavy contact
with the rear of Cochran’s vehicle.
Both cars sustained heavy damage,
but there were no injuries.
In the Super Truck event, Homer’s
Wes Whitfield picked up the win
after Paul Antley was disqualified
after failing post-race inspection.
Second place was awarded to Andy
Gaddis, followed by Matthew Rouse
and James Davidson.
Hoyt Stephens held off Russell
Shore to win in the Outlaw Late
Model division. Shore’s car failed
post race inspection, moving Phil
Peppers to the second spot. Terry
Martin took third, while Brian
Hardman finished fourth.
In the sportsman division, Robbie
Gonterman led early and never
looked back, taking the win over
Richard Kind, Keith Barrett and
Chuck Copper.
Local racing returns to Peach State
on April 19.
Donations sought for Smith memorial scholarship fund
The Banks County High School
Class of 1995 is establishing a
scholarship in memory of classmate
Shawn Smith.
Smith, who was a standout athlete
for the BCHS Leopards, died fol
lowing a car accident last summer
while attending a basketball camp in
Alabama with members of the North
Oconee County High School team.
The annual football game between
BCHS and North Oconee has been
named the Shawn Smith Bowl in his
honor.
Those wishing to make dona
tions or obtain additional informa
tion can contact Nicole Blalock at
706-658-7014 or Heather Cotton at
706-654-7683.
A fund has been established at area
Freedom Bank locations.
B ack in the infancy of
American automobile
racing, having a passen
ger in a racecar wasn’t just com
mon, it was a necessity.
In the early days, drivers would
have a “ride along” mechanic
with them to diagnose any trou
ble, and also to tell drivers when
someone was approaching them
from behind or making a pass.
The ride along mechanic
became obsolete in 1911, when
Ray Harroun invented the
rear-view mirror, and, with a
lighter car, won the inaugural
Indianapolis 500 in his famous
Marmon Wasp.
Since then, race drivers haven’t
had much need for passengers.
But in 1953, NASCAR had its
only known co-driver in eight
Grand National (now Sprint Cup)
events. His name was Jocko
Flocko.
He was a Rhesus monkey, who
rode shotgun with the legendary
Tim Flock.
Here’s how the story goes,
which is so crazy it couldn’t be
made up.
In 1952, Tim Flock drove
for a man by the name of Ted
Chester, who was from around
Dawsonville, GA. Flock drove
his Chester owned Hudson
Hornets to eight victories, and
the NASCAR championship.
Flock and Chester were again
teamed up in 1953, and looked
to be on track to contend for the
title again.
As the story goes, Chester was
at a pet shop in Atlanta, looking
for a gift for his wife, when he
spotted this little Rhesus mon
key. The little creature was very
personable, and a sign on its cage
indicated its name was “Jocko.”
Chester’s mind instantly clicked
brandon
reed
on the name
“Jocko
Flocko,” in
association
with Tim’s
name, and
thought this
would make
the neatest
gimmick
for his rac
ing outfit.
After
purchasing Jocko, Chester took
the idea to Flock, who immedi
ately thought Chester had been
spending too much time at a
local tavern. But, Flock said
later, the more he thought about
it, the more he liked the idea.
So Chester and Flock had the
crew fix a “co-driver” seat in the
Hudson, and at the next race,
which was at Charlotte, they
snuck Jocko in the car just before
the race started.
Needless to say, Jocko made
a big splash. The fans loved
the notion of this little monkey
racing along with Tim, and he
became a fan favorite. Tim and
Jocko finished fourth that day,
collecting $350 (it’s not noted
how much Jocko received for his
services).
Jocko raced in eight events with
Tim that year, and even went
to victory lane on May 16 at
Hickory, N.C.
The NASCAR officials simply
turned a blind eye to the high
speed simian. It was good pub
licity for the still young Grand
National tour, and sold more tick
ets to the races.
But Jocko’s high speed lifestyle
was about to come to an end.
It happened at a race in
Raleigh, N.C. Tim was run
ning second at the time, trying
to catch his brother, Fonty, who
held the lead.
Late in the race, as Tim was
concentrating on catching Fonty,
Jocko managed to slip out from
under his seat belt, and climbed
down in the floorboard to inves
tigate a trap door that was cut
into the wheel well to allow driv
ers to monitor tire wear. About
the time that Jocko opened the
little trap door, the tire appar
ently kicked up a piece of gravel,
which barely zinged Jocko
between the eyes.
Jocko let out a scream, and
began running all around
the inside of the Hudson.
Eventually, he ended up on Tim’s
back, clawing and screaming.
Tim showed incredible car con
trol, and piloted the Hornet into
the pits (I dare anybody to argue
the “car control” assertion -
when was the last time you saw a
NASCAR driver pilot a car with
a monkey on his back?). After
getting Jocko out of the car, Tim
rejoined the race, and eventually
finished third. The loss of track
position cost Tim about $600.
Needless to say, that was the
end of Jocko’s racing career. He
retired to the relative quiet of
the Flock household, where he
passed away several years later.
Over the years, fans would
come up to Tim and ask,
“Whatever happened to old Jocko
Flocko?”
Tim would give them that
trademark mischievous grin of
his, and say “I couldn’t teach him
to sign his autograph, so I had to
fire him!”
Brandon Reed is a reporter for
Mainstreet Newspapers. E-mail
comments about this column to
brandon@mainstreetnews.com.
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