This is the first in a series of examinations of legends related to auto racing and whether they are true or false.

Let’s begin!

AUTO RACING LEGEND: Race car drivers perspire so much inside the car during a race that they have no need to urinate.

STATUS: For the Most Part, False

Race car drivers are in their cars for about three hours at a time during a race.

Since they are in there for so long, there is often the question of, “Well, what if they have to go to the bathroom during the race?”

And a particular answer has popped up - that the car inside is so hot that the drivers do not need to urinate because they perspire so much that it is unnecessary.

While there is definitely SOME truth to this, it is not entirely true.

First of all, yes, it IS very hot inside a race car (although, of course, over the years people have done as much as they can to make it as cool as possible for the drivers).

And yes, drivers DO perspire a whooooooooole lot. Heck, some drivers are known to lose five pounds during a race, just due to perspiration.

So yes, for the most part, all that perspiration alleviates the need to go to the bathroom.

However, it does not eliminate it entirely.

In fact, the biggest way that drivers avoid having to go to the bathroom during a race is the simplest way imaginable - they almost always go to the bathroom right before the race begins.

But even with that, drivers occasionally DO end up needing to go during the race, and in that case, drivers are known to just urinate while driving.

Crew chief Bootie Barker confirmed as much in a column for NASCAR.com a few years back.

So yeah, there definitely is a lot of truth in the notion that drivers perspire so much while driving that the need to urinate is alleviated, but a lot of folks think that it ELIMINATES the need, and it does not.

AUTO RACING LEGEND: Joe Weatherly once forced a race to change the name of the event before he agreed to race in it.

STATUS: Basically True

Joe Weatherly was one of the most superstitious race car drivers ever, so it makes sense that his death actually led to a NEW superstition for race car drivers.

But before that, Weatherly took his superstitions to almost unheard of levels in 1962.

Weatherly began his racing career as a motorcyclist before turning to race cars during the 1950s.

Here’s Weatherly with his 1958 Ford…

In April of 1962, Weatherly, who was deathly afraid of the number 13, was in position 13 at Bristol’s Volunteer 500. He successfully convinced the race officials to change his position to “12A” rather than 13.

But he had a much bigger problem in September of 1962.

Weatherly had made a handshake agreement with Track President Bob Colvin that he would race in the Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina 1962.

However, the Southern 500 began in 1950.

So 1962 would be the…yep, you guessed it, the 13th Annual Southern 500.

Weatherly refused to honor his agreement, because he was NOT going to be racing in a race titled 13th!

They seemed to be at an impasse before an ingenious, if bizarre, solution was found.

The 1962 Southern 500 was titled “The 12th Renewal of the Southern 500.”

Weatherly raced, and while he did not win the race, he helped add to his overall points total that saw him become the 1962 NASCAR Champion. He would repeat as champion in 1963.

The next year, however, Weatherly died in an accident in a race at the Riverside International Raceway. At the time, he had just been repaid a $100 loan he had given to his friend, so he had two $50 bills in his back pocket. For years, then, drivers shied away from $50 bills.

It is only fitting that a king of superstitions would be at the heart of one himself!

AUTO RACING LEGEND: A monkey once knocked a driver from second to third place in a race.

STATUS: True

Tim Flock (1924-1998) was one of the best drivers in NASCAR history, and was on the earliest pioneers of NASCAR (which began having championships in 1949).

Flock was the National Champion in 1952 and 1955.

In 1953, Flock made news for an odder reason when he won a race at the Hickory Motor Speedway - with a monkey as his “co-driver”!

The monkey, known as Jocko Flocko, rode in the car with Flock. The whole thing was a big publicity stunt.

The monkey even had his own special uniform, with a number (#91)…

The publicity stunt went awry two weeks later, though, when Flock was racing in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Here’s Flock describing what happened:

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!

Thanks to Tim Flock’s official website, timflock.com, for the quote and the Jocko Flocko pictures!

Okay, that’s it for this week!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com