39 Facts About Parnelli Jones

Rufus Parnell Jones was born on August 12,1933 and is an American former professional racing driver and racing team owner.

Parnelli Jones is notable for his accomplishments while competing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Baja 1000 desert race.

Parnelli Jones won the race in 1963, then famously broke down while leading the 1967 race with three laps to go in a turbine car.

Parnelli Jones won races in many types of vehicles: sports cars, IndyCars, sprint cars, midget cars, off-road vehicles, and stock cars.

Parnelli Jones is remembered for bringing the stock block engine to USAC Sprint car racing as one of the "Chevy Twins" with Jim Hurtubise.

Parnelli Jones is associated with the famous Boss 302 Mustang with his wins using the engine in the 1970s.

Jones' son P J Jones was a diverse driver, with IndyCar and NASCAR starts and a championship in IMSA prototype sports cars.

Parnelli Jones's other son Page Jones was an up-and-coming driver before suffering career ending injuries in a sprint car at the 4-Crown Nationals, and has been in rehabilitation, working with his father-in-law.

Parnelli Jones was nicknamed Parnelli by his boyhood friend Billy Calder, who hoped that the Jones family would not discover their son was racing cars as a 17-year-old minor.

Parnelli Jones participated in his first race in a Jalopy race at Carrell Speedway in Gardena, California.

Parnelli Jones developed his racing skills by racing in many different classes in the 1950s, including 15 stock car racing wins in the NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model Series.

Parnelli Jones was named the 1961 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, an honor that he shared with Bobby Marshman.

Parnelli Jones led early in the race and ran among the leaders until being hit in the face with a stone, bloodying his face, blurring his vision and slowing him to a 12th-place finish.

Parnelli Jones dominated the first two-thirds of the race until a brake line failure slowed him, and he settled for a seventh-place finish.

Parnelli Jones won the 1963 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the car, and broke the stock car speed record.

Parnelli Jones won the Turkey Night Grand Prix midget car event.

Parnelli Jones won five of the nine midget car events that he entered in 1966, including the Turkey Night Grand Prix.

Parnelli Jones finished fourteenth in the final points despite competing in only nine of 65 events.

Parnelli Jones dominated the race but dropped out with three laps to go when a small, inexpensive transmission bearing broke.

Also in 1967, as part of his stock car contract with the Lincoln-Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company, Parnelli Jones drove a Mercury Cougar for Bud Moore in the second-year Trans Am series.

Stroppe suggested that Parnelli Jones try his hand at off-road racing in front of a large crowd at a Christmas party in 1967.

Parnelli Jones hit a dry wash at full speed, which broke the wheels and blew out the front tires.

In 1968, Parnelli Jones headed a super-roster of seven drivers signed by Andy Granatelli to drive STP Lotus 56 turbine cars in an unprecedented single-team assault on the Indianapolis 500.

Parnelli Jones stepped out of the car, which was assigned to Joe Leonard, who promptly wrecked the car in practice.

Parnelli Jones entered the 1968 NORRA Mexican 1000.

Parnelli Jones had a special car fabricated that looked like a Bronco, but had racing parts that could withstand rigorous jarring that off-road vehicles endure.

Parnelli Jones named the vehicle "Big Oly" after his sponsor Olympia Beer.

Parnelli Jones used the vehicle to lead the Mexican 1000 from start to finish in a new record time of 14 hours and 59 minutes.

Parnelli Jones won his second Mexican 1000 in 16 hours and 42 minutes.

Parnelli Jones won the 1973 Baja 500 and Mint 400 off-road events.

Parnelli Jones had a major accident at SCORE International's 1974 Baja 500, and stepped away from full-time off-road racing to become a race car owner.

Parnelli Jones raced SCCA Trans Am sedans owned by Bud Moore: Mercury Cougar and Ford Mustang.

Parnelli Jones retired with six IndyCar wins and twelve pole positions, four wins in 34 NASCAR starts, including the 1967 Motor Trend 500 at Riverside, 25 midget car feature wins in occasional races between 1960 and 1967, and 25 career sprint car wins.

Jones started Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing, which won the Indianapolis 500 again as an owner in 1970 and 1971 with driver Al Unser driving the Johnny Lightning special.

Parnelli Jones returned to off-road racing as owner of Walker Evans' 1976 SCORE truck, and Evans won the championship.

Parnelli Jones owned vehicles that took class wins at the Baja 500 and Baja 1000.

Parnelli Jones is inducted in over 20 Halls of Fame including:.

Parnelli Jones Enterprises was a chain of Firestone Racing Tires in 14 Western United States.

Parnelli Jones Wholesale was a reseller which sold and distributed shock absorbers, passenger car tires, and other automotive products to retail tire dealers.