The Early Years: the growing pains of the beginner

Welcome back race fans, to part III of this incredible ride through the history of Nascar in my words. I hope you enjoyed the first two legs of this story and continue to follow me through time. I was originally going to make this a 5 part series, but that is not possible and it would not do justice to the sport and all the great people involved in its history. I will try to give everyone the credit they deserve, but that will probably be impossible as well. We will cover from 1949-1959 in this episode. So let's continue on this journey, and join me on this ride.

In the beginning, wait another great story start's that way. How about two score and 19 years ago? That is already taken too, Ok folks just kidding. The new Organization had combined the best talents of the drivers throughout the Southeast, Northeast, and Midwest. Some of these folks were racing in jalopy, modified, and or open wheel races. Mostly unsanctioned and sometimes without promised payouts. Then Bill France Sr. had another great idea. It was to race the same cars that people could buy at the Dealerships. You could race a car with minimal investment as nothing except minor engine tweaking was allowed in the early years. All glass was still intact and ropes or plane harnesses were used as seat belts. These cars were either driven or flat towed to the track. In some cases rental cars were used by drivers who did not have a guaranteed ride.

The Year is 1949, and Car racing was never as popular as it was right now. The First Grand National Race (currently known as Sprint Cup) was held on June 19, 1949 at the Charlotte Fairgrounds. The Winner was Jim Roper, of Great Bend, Kansas. There was an extremely large crowd watching cars with the appearance of a street car racing side by side.  There were Nine manufacturers entered in that first event (Buick, Cadillac, Chrysler, Ford, Hudson, Kaiser, Lincoln, Mercury, and Oldsmobile). The new series (officially named Grand National Series at the start of the 1950 Season) was up and running and was a major success. It was no surprise that the first car to win a Championship was owned by Raymond Parks, driven by Red Byron, and the Crew Chief/Mechanic was Red Vogt. They were after all the original Super team that got this all going. But even Parks didn't last past 1950, as the cost of running a multiple team operation was greater than the rewards.

Plans were made to bring bigger faster races to even larger and hungrier crowds. And in 1950, the first asphalt speedway was opened at Darlington, South Carolina. The excitement of these races kept fans on the edge of their seats. These were wild times in this new developed series of racing. For the distant future most of the races are being run on the dirt ovals. During the early years there were as many as 60 races a season, and the points were based almost solely on who could afford to get to the most races. The Drivers were nuts and often suffered great injuries and even deaths as these cars did not have many safety features at the time.

To say that a "Flock" of characters were involved in the beginning is an understatement.  The Three Flock Brothers Bob, Fonty, and Tim were definitely some Characters.  Those three will have to be a blog all by itself.  The Flocks were just one group that started at the birth of this great sport.  In 1950, Bill Rexford was the Grand National Champion. The second place finisher was a Legend in the sport, Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, Jr. Many who believe was the greatest driver never to win the championship. And the third place finisher was Lee Petty. There were also 5 different Manufactures Champions in those first 11 years (Olds 1949-51, Hudson 1952-54, Chrysler 1955-56, Ford 1957, and Chevrolet 1958-59).

Don't get me wrong there were many great drivers in that first decade. There were also many great owners and mechanics as well, for instance Red Vogt, Smokey Yunick, Bud Moore, and Carl Kiekhafer. The Champions of the next 8 years were (Herb Thomas 1951 and 1953, Tim Flock 1952 and 1955, Lee Petty 1954, 1958, and 1959, and Buck Baker 1956 and 1957). And they also pretty much filled in most of the top 5 in each of those years.  Other greats from the decade, Buddy Shuman, Joe Eubanks, Junior Johnson, Curtis Turner, Cotton Owens, Rex White, and many more. Another gentleman named Speedy Thompson came in third in Series Points four consecutive years from 1956-59. The First Rookie of the Year award was presented in 1958 to Spook Crawford, and in 1959 the award was awarded to Richard Petty son of the Grand National Series Champion Lee Petty.

There were also so many other modifications made throughout the 1950's that helped propel the sport in an extremely fast direction forward. It started out with tire, wheel, and suspension problems. Roll cages were mandated in 1952, starting the initial phases of safety innovations. And racing tires were available for the first time that same year, by a company called Pure Oil, who manufactured and distributed them. In 1953 a "severe usage" kit was added to Lincoln, Hudson, and Oldsmobile, in response to all the failures of hubs, spindles, axels, and other suspension pieces. In 1955 came maybe the greatest innovation into the sport, the introduction of the Chevrolet 355 cubic inch "small block" V-8. Some folks used the heavier truck axels and beefier suspensions in the mid 1950's. Marshall Teague was one of the Innovators credited with some of these ideas. In 1957 Buick unveiled an aluminum finned brake drums which dissipated heat more efficiently. And GM made another major change in 1958, when they debut an '"X" frame with a coil rear suspension, replacing the box frame with a leaf suspension. Very few 1958 Chevy's were run as drivers and mechanics were not comfortable with the new design. One particular Mechanic figured it out and his car a 1958 Pontiac won the final beach/road course race at Daytona. His name was Henry "Smokey" Yunick. And in 1959 Ford Motor Company abandoned its favored Galaxy model and started running the Thunderbird, since it fell into the dimensional parameters set forth by the governing body.

Then in 1954 a decision was made that would put Nascar on the map for good. That was the year they decided to build the first Superspeedway at Daytona. Construction began in 1957. This new Superspeedway "paved" the way for Nascar to get us to where we are today. They had some of the greats leave the sport and many of the Greats coming on board. Each and every year the sport was more and more popular. 1959 may have been the greatest year in the 11 year history of the sport, but what would the 1960's have in store for us. As you can see the 1950's played as much of a significant role as any other decade in the sport. I am sorry if I missed any facts or any people. Well Race Fans, take care and I will see you for the next leg of our journey.

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*The Fabulous Flock Brothers *

They were bootleggers. Actually their uncle, Peachtree Williams, was the bootlegger and the two older Flock boys - Bob and Fonty - were his drivers. They came from their home in Ft. Payne, Ala., to make moonshine runs in rural Georgia during the prohibition era. They moved to Atlanta in 1925 after the death of their father. When Carl Lee Flock passed away, his youngest child Tim was only one year old. His widow, Maudie worked in a hosiery mill to support her family. To supplement their mother's meager income the older boys relocated to Atlanta to work in the family moonshine business. On the back roads between Atlanta and Dawsonville, GA the Flock brothers proved to have natural talent for building and driving vehicles that could outrun anything the police had on the road.

When they were not making runs they talked with other drivers about which car was the fastest. And that talk led to NASCAR.According to legend, the drivers would find a pasture and drive around in circles - about a half-mile circle - until they had worn out a path in the grass. Then they would race.

The Flocks were among the instigators of this racing. And the racing grew by word of mouth as a small crowd got a little larger and larger until some entrepreneurial people started building racetracks. It is from those tracks that NASCAR grew.
The Flock family as a whole was a very interesting family. Every one of them were colorful, to say the least.

Carl, the oldest boy, was a speedboat racer. Reo, one of the girls, was a wing-walking daredevil. She also was a stunt parachutist. Another sister, Ethel, was a racecar driver with more than 100 races. She had two Grand National starts one at the Daytona Beach Road Course on July 10, 1949. The event was the first to feature a brother and a sister, and the only NASCAR event to feature four siblings. Ethel beat Fonty and Bob by finishing eleventh (her career high), and Tim finished second.

The Flocks are indisputably the "First Family" of NASCAR. The brothers (Bob, Fonty, and Tim) were all in the top ten of the first Grand National Championship (first Winston Cup, now Sprint Cup) standings. Bob, Fonty and Tim finished third, fifth and eighth respectively. There is also, no other NASCAR family with three brothers in the Hall of Fame.

Robert "Bob" Newman Flock was born April 16, 1918 in Fort Payne, Alabama. He died May 16, 1964. Bob was the oldest of the three Grand National drivers. He also had the shortest racing career. He began in 1949 and retired in 1956. He started 36 races and won 4.

The federal agents once discovered that Bob Flock would be running a race in Atlanta, and they staked out the place to make an arrest. A gate opened as the race was beginning, and he drove on the track to take the green flag. The police vehicles quickly appeared on the track. They chased Flock for a lap or two before he drove through the fence. The police followed him until he ran out of gas later. Reminiscing years later, Bob said, "I would have won that race if the cops had stayed out of it"

Bob Flock retired from driving when he broke his back in an on track accident. Bob Flock became a track promoter in Atlanta. He hired three women (Sara Christian, and Mildred Williams, and his sister Ethel Mobley) to race at his new track.

He was a well established driver before NASCAR was formed. He took over NASCAR founder Bill France's ride in 1946. He won both events at the Daytona Beach Road Course in 1947.He sat on the pole for NASCAR's first race at Charlotte Speedway on June 19, 1949. He had two wins that season, and finished third in the points behind Lee Petty and champion Red Byron. He won two 100 lap ARCA races at Lakewood Speedway in 1954. He had over 200 modified wins in his career.

Truman Fontell "Fonty" Flock was born March 21, 1920 in Fort Payne, Alabama, and died July 15, 1972. Fonty had a pretty good NASCAR career. He started 154 races and had 19 wins and 33 poles during a career that lasted from 1949 through 1957
He won a 100 mile race Lakewood Park in Atlanta, Georgia in 1940. He raced on dirt tracks in Georgia. He qualified in the pole position for the July 27, 1941 race at the Daytona Beach Road Course beside Roy Hall. Flock took the early lead, before Flock and Hall got together in the south turn. Flock rolled and landed upside down in bushes. The seatbelt broke during the rolling, and Flock was tossed around. He was rushed by ambulance to the hospital. Fonty suffered a crushed chest, broken pelvis, head and back injuries, and severe shock. He was in the United States Army Air Corps for four years during World War II. He sat out the 1945 and 1946 seasons because of his injuries.

His brother Bob, convinced car owner Ed Schenck to put Flock in his car at the first race at the North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 5, 1947. Flock won the pole and his heat race. He won the 30 lap feature after not racing in 4 1/2 years. He took over his brother, Bob's ride later in the season after Bob broke his back. He won seven of 47 races that season, and beat Ed Samples and Red Byron to win the National Championship Stock Car Circuit championship. He won eleven features and won the NASCAR National Modified championship in 1949. He raced in 6 of 8 Strictly Stock, and finished fifth in the points.

He raced his first full-time season in the Grand National series in 1951. He had 8 wins, 22 Top-10s, and 13 poles to finish second in the points. He had two wins, 17 Top-10s, and 7 poles in 1952. He finished fourth in the points. He opened an insurance agency in 1954, and he raced part-time after that. He raced 31 of 45 events in 1955. He had 3 wins, 14 Top-10s, and 6 poles. He finished eleventh in the points. He had his final win in 1956 at the Charlotte Speedway (not Lowe's Motor Speedway).

In 1957 he raced at the Daytona Beach Road Course. Herb Thomas was injured while practicing for the Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway, so Flock got his ride. The car was in bad shape, and a tire blew on the sixth lap. Flock walked away unhurt, but he decided to walk away for good.

But the star of the family was Tim, the baby. He was one of the most colorful NASCAR drivers ever.

Julius Timothy "Tim" Flock was born May 11, 1924 in Fort Payne, Alabama and died March 31, 1998. He was the 1952 and 1955 Grand National Champion.

During his career he:

• Raced with a monkey in his car
• Lost a race because of an in-car fight with the monkey
• Raced in a car with the number 300 painted on it
• Won a Grand National (Cup Series) title driving a Hudson Hornet
• Won NASCAR's only sports-car race driving a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing
• Quit NASCAR racing altogether over a race ruling and opened a gasoline station only to be talked back into racing while watching time trials as a spectator and then going on to win that race
• Was banned from racing for life

And on top of it all he was quite a driver winning 40 races (in 187 starts) and two Grand National titles in a career that started in 1949 and lasted until he was banned in 1961.
Had Tim's older brothers had their way he may not have been a racecar driver. They wanted him to stay away from racing and go to school. It did not work out that way. He tagged along with his older brothers to the racetracks and in 1948 he ran into a man, Bruce Thompson from Monroe, N.C., who had a car but no driver. He asked Tim to drive and before the year was out he was outrunning his older brothers.

The following year NASCAR started a 'strictly stock' circuit which eventually led to Grand National and Cup Series. Tim competed on it and by 1952 had won his first championship in a Hudson Hornet, giving Hudson its only championship. The way he won the title was actually rather interesting since going into the last race of the season all he needed to do was to start to beat Herb Thomas, who he had waged a season-long battle with. He did more than start but on the 64th lap he rolled his car over. He later jokingly said "I bet I am the only guy who ever won a championship while on his head."

He had an affinity for laughing and for clowning around. Those two things led to his brief - nine races - stint with a rhesus monkey as his co-driver. For the first eight races Jocko Flocko, as the monkey was called, was fine as a co-driver. The ninth race was a different story. With Tim leading the race Jocko Flocko somehow broke out of his cage and went berserk in the racecar at one time grabbing Tim by the neck. Tim subdued the monkey with one hand while driving with the other before pulling into the pits to get Jocko Flocko out of the car. His pit stop cost him the race he was leading before Jocko Flocko broke loose as he finished third.

He ended his career abruptly in 1954 after being disqualified in a race for an illegal part in his car. He went home to Atlanta and opened a gas station figuring he was through with racing. He was talked into going to Daytona by some friends of his in 1955 and that is where he saw them testing the new Chrysler 300. The one thing that Flock found wrong with the Chrysler 300 was that it had an automatic shift. He did not think it would keep up with other cars going uphill on the beach at Daytona because of that. It did not and he finished second to Glenn 'Fireball' Roberts in that race. Ironically, Roberts was disqualified the next day and Flock was declared the winner.

That was the start of an awesome season as he teamed with car owner Carl Keikhaefer to have one of the greatest seasons in NASCAR history. Driving the No. 300 Chrysler 300 he won the championship by winning 18 races and 19 poles.


It was at this time, however, that many NASCAR drivers started talking about unionizing going so far as to approach Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters about representing them. The union idea fell apart and many of the drivers left the group, leaving only Flock and Curtis Turner, a former NASCAR driver who was his boss at Charlotte Motor Speedway, with that idea. NASCAR banned both for life. The lifetime ban was repealed in 1965 but Flock did not return to racing. He was a pioneer. He was colorful. But, most of all, he was a very good racer. He was the most colorful of The Fabulous Flock Brothers, but they all need to be recognized as NASCAR pioneers.

Carl Lee and Maudie Flock's children, Ethel, Bob, Fonty and Tim with a combined total of 379 NASCAR starts finished in the top-ten 230 times. For their priceless contribution to our sport the Flock siblings' total winnings was less than $200,000. What a bargain!