Legends of Hot Rodding – Parnelli Jones
P.J. – Two Letters that say it all, Parnelli Jones
Imagine F1 star Max Verstappen squeezing in a World of Outlaws dirt race between Grands Prix. Or IndyCar standout Scott Dixon jumping into a World Rally machine. Or 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Antonio Fuoco getting a one-off drive in NASCAR.
If you can’t picture that, it’s because that sort of thing just doesn’t happen anymore. Specialization is prized. Well-roundedness, not so much. Which brings us to the recent passing of American racing icon Parnelli Jones, at 90 years old. He was the oldest living winner of the Indianapolis 500, having chugged that bottle of milk in 1963. While that victory was his signature achievement, he left a path of brilliance across nearly every form of motorsport.
He was one of the best all-rounders who ever donned a crash helmet.
P.J. was born on August 12, 1933, in Texarkana, Texas – not as Parnelli Jones, but as Rufus Parnell Jones. The story behind how the “i” was added to Parnell is contradictory. One tale has a friend adding the “i,” another credits his aunt who had named a pet Parnelli. It became “official” when Jones crashed the racing scene as an underaged teen with a forged ID for Parnelli Jones. The moniker stuck.
By this time, his family had moved to Torrance, California. Jones’s first race was in a jalopy at Carrell Speedway in nearby Gardena. Throughout the 1950s he honed his skills by competing in a variety of classes – midgets, sprint cars, and stock cars, a discipline in which he won 15 races in the old NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model series.
His breakthrough came in 1960 when he ruled the rough-and-tumble world of sprint car racing, winning the USAC (United States Auto Club) Midwest Sprint Car championship in 1960 and the USAC National Sprint Car titles in 1961 and 1962.
This success had caught the attention of prominent local businessman and car owner J.C. Agajanian, who ensured that P.J. would always pilot first-rate equipment. This relationship elevated Jones to tackle the pinnacle of American motorsport, the Indianapolis 500. He debuted at Indy in 1961, qualifying fifth, finishing 12th and winning Rookie of the Year.
In 1962, Jones became the first driver to break the Brickyard’s 150mph single-lap barrier, rocketing around the 2.5-mile oval at a pole-winning speed of 150.137mph. He was running away with the race when his car’s brakes failed at about 300 miles. He soldiered on, eventually finishing seventh.
In 1963, Jones again earned the Indy 500 pole and this time he won the race. But not without controversy. He was cruising to victory when Grand Prix standout Jimmy Clark, driving a new rear-engine Lotus, put in a late charge and cut Jones’s lead to 4.5 seconds. At the same time, Jones’s Offy-powered front-engine roadster had developed an oil leak, causing smoke to burn and billow off the exhaust and oil to seep onto the track. Many believed – including Clark’s crew – that Jones should have been black-flagged. Officials disagreed, and Jones went on to take the checkered. The dispute raged for months.
In 1967, Parnelli experienced the flip side of Indy 500 fortune. Driving Andy Granatelli’s unique turbine-engine car, he nearly lapped the field, only to have a $6 transmission bearing fail with four laps to go. Ouch.
Listing all of P.J.’s driving highlights would take volumes, but here’s a list of greatest hits:
- Six IndyCar wins, including 1963 Indy 500, and twelve pole positions
- Four wins in 34 NASCAR starts, including the 1967 Motor Trend 500
- 25 midget car feature wins between 1960 and 1967
- 25 career sprint car wins, including three USAC season titles
- Seven Trans Am wins and a Drivers Championship in 1970
- Fifteen wins in NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model series
- Pikes Peak hill climb championship in 1963
- Two wins in Baja 1000 off-road race, 1971 and 1972, setting course records
Jones retired as an active driver in 1974, yet he wasn’t done with motorsports. He transitioned to team ownership, with equal success. His Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing won the Indianapolis 500 in 1970 and 1971 with driver Al Unser behind the wheel. The team also won the 1970, 1971, and 1972 USAC National Championships.
In 1974, he started the Parnelli Formula One race team but was never competitive against its more seasoned F1 regulars. In 1976, he fielded Walker Evans in the SCORE off road truck class, who took the win. Jones’s off-road team captured class wins at both the Baja 500 and Baja 1000. Oh, and his USAC Dirt Car entries took home two titles.
In other words, eat your heart out Max Verstappen. Jones could do it all, and did so for three decades – dirt, pavement, open-wheel, door-slammers, you name it.
After Jones passed away, his longtime rival, friend, and fellow do-it-all racer A.J. Foyt had this to say:
“Parnelli and I were great, great friends and we did a lot of racing together. He was a helluva sprint car driver, midget driver, and also IndyCar driver. We had so many good times together and a lot of great memories. He was one of the best I ever drove against.”
