Parnelli Jones

Parnelli Jones 2015

The Granatelli gas turbine racing car with which Jones was in the lead in the 1967 Indy 500 until three laps before the end

Rufus Parnell "Parnelli" Jones (born August 12, 1933 in Texarkana ) is a former American automobile racing driver and racing team owner.

The racer

Parnelli Jones grew up in the Californian city of Torrance , where he still lives today. He got his nickname Parnelli from a childhood friend in order to conceal from his parents that the minor was already driving car races at the age of 17.

In the 1950s he was already successfully driving stock car races and in 1960 he won the NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model Series. In 1961 he came to Indianapolis for the first time as a driver with the financial support of promoter JC Agajanian . He finished the race in twelfth place. In 1962, he became the first racing driver in the history of the 500-mile race to exceed the 150-mile barrier for a qualifying lap. He started from pole position after driving an average of 150.370 mph in practice. In the race he was 120 laps ahead, but at the end of the race he had to be content with seventh place.

In 1963 he started again from pole position. Jones was in the lead 167 of the 200 laps, but with ten laps to go, potential success was at risk. He drove just ahead of Jim Clark in the Lotus 29 as his Watson - Offenhauser lost oil. After Eddie Sachs had an accident on the oil track, the race was neutralized by yellow flags. Starter Harlan Fengler wanted to take Jones out of the race with the black flag, but was stopped by team boss Agajanian. Jones won ahead of Clark. The Lotus team protested, which was rejected a few days later.

In the mid-1960s he also began to drive midget car races and in 1965 had another chance of winning the 500-mile race. Again Jim Clark was his toughest opponent, but this time he had the better end in the factory Lotus 38 and relegated Jones to second place in the Lotus 34 .

In 1967, he led almost the entire race in gas turbines race car of Andy Granatelli and already looked like the sure winner when three laps to go a little cheap clutch component broke and the race was over for him. In 1968 he had his last appearance in Indianapolis. When, after the first training session, he reported to team boss Granatelli that the Lotus 56 was an unsafe racing car, it was quickly replaced by Joe Leonard .

Jones then discovered his love for touring car racing and won a number of Trans-Am races until 1974. As a Ford factory driver, he drove their Ford Mustang from 1969 to 1971 . After a serious accident on the Baja 500 in 1974, he resigned as a driver. In addition to his success in Indianapolis in 1963, he won five more USAC championship runs. He was victorious four times in 34 NASCAR starts.

The team boss

As early as 1969, when he was still a driver, he and Vel Miletich founded a racing team - Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing . As team boss, he won the 500-mile race twice with Al Unser in 1970 and 1971 and the USAC championship three times in a row from 1971. In 1974 the team even entered the Formula 1 World Championship, but withdrew in 1976 after little success.

Private

In the 1980s, he began to build a life away from the racetrack and got into the tire trade. Step by step he opened 47 large outlets across the country. His son PJ Jones was also a racing driver and is active in NASCAR and the Indy Racing League .

literature

• Peter Higham: The Guinness guide to international Motor Racing. A Complete Reference from Formula One to Touring Cars. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .
• Rick Popely, L. Spencer Riggs: Indianapolis 500 Chronicle. Publications International Ltd., Lincolnwood IL 1998, ISBN 0-7853-2798-3 .

Web links

Commons : Parnelli Jones  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• About Parnelli Jones