How about "Jocko Flocko?" The biggest, tallest, truest tale in NASCAR
history happened in 1953 on a half-mile dirt track in Hickory. A monkey
named Jocko Flocko beat 26 other drivers to take home the checkered flag.

Jocko’s tale starts with one of NASCAR’s greatest early drivers, Tim
Flock. In 1953, Flock was racing the number 91 Fabulous Hudson Hornet
and doing quite well. Flock’s sponsor, Ted Chester, was happy with Flock
as a driver, but felt he could use a little extra something to get more attention.

That extra something turned out to be a Rhesus (you know, the kind with
peanut butter inside) monkey Chester saw in a pet store while looking
for a puppy for a birthday present. The monkey Chester saw was named
Jocko, which works really well with the name ‘Flock’ if you just add on that ‘O,’ and in that moment the legend of Jocko Flocko, racing monkey,
was born.

Chester bought the monkey and had a special helmet, goggles, racing
suit, and seat made for him. The seat was mounted in Flock’s Hudson on
the passenger side, high enough so Jocko could peer out the window and
see and be seen by fans and other drivers alike.

Jocko rode with Flock for eight races, and NASCAR, incredibly, didn’t
seem to mind. Jocko’s career came to a halt because, let’s face it, he
was a monkey in a race car, and eventually some shit was bound to happen.

According to Tim Flock himself, this was what caused Jocko’s retirement:

“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! 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! 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!”

https://www.ourstate.com/jocko-flocko-nascar-monkey/

https://jalopnik.com/that-time-a-monkey-went-apeshit-on-a-n…

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