Motorsport icon Parnelli Jones speaks about his life in racing.

by WILLIAM EDGAR photography courtesy PARNELLI JONES ARCHIVE unless noted

hen you're young and dumb and ing it easy, and they chewed my ass out don't know any better, and strong because I'd run too fast, 140 something." w as an ox," he's saying of himself, Testing later, "I zipped through the first one, "pain has no memory!" He'd started three second one, and in the third phase I told my 500-milers in one weekend at Riverside and mechanic, Johnny Paulsen, 'I don't think I was 25 then, this same kid in a 73-year-old's can kick it up another five miles an hour.' hide today-this Parnelli Jones, former Indy 'Aw, come on!' he said. And 1 said, 'I'm winner, Trans-Am and stock car legend, off- telling ya!' So I went out, and I'd get one in, roading whiz, hard-charger from the get-go. two in, one in, one out, and finally they "I finished second in that 500-mile midget pulled me in. I couldn't run fast enough." race. In a midget-looking back on it, I can't Harlan Fengler, Indy's chief steward at imagine somebody doing that! I drove in the that time, who knew Jones from sprint cars, sprint cars. And I was leading the stock-car had enough confidence in him to intervene. race for about 400 miles, had set quick time, "He gets Bob Veith and Johnny Boyd to take and blew the engine." me around the track and see what was We're talking, and I'm thinking-there's wrong," says Jones. "They want to know no one like him. He was tough, this Jones where I'm backing off. And I say, 'I drive it boy, proving to everybody he was going down here to Two.' And they ask, 'Are you places-fast. "My earliest racing was in using the brakes?' I say, 'Yeah, you ain't kid- jalopies," he says. "I was quite popular back din' I am.' So they say, 'That's probably your then, and the reason I know that is, when I problem. We want you to back off at Three, go around the country now people are say- or even back off before Three, but try to stay ing, 'Oh, yeah, I used to watch you!' Those off the brakes.' I was a cocky little guy and races were televised every Sunday and it thought these guys had been around too was a pretty competitive thing. We had as long. But I went out and backed way off and, many as 200 cars show up." sure enough, it felt like I was going too slow It was survival of the fittest, and those in the corner. I picked the throttle up and most fit moved ahead. Jones showed up at gained probably six or seven miles an Indy in 1960 with a Watson roadster, with hour-just like that." dreams of someday winning the big oval. He'd learned when you drive down deep "Being a rookie without a rookie test or any- and hit the brakes, you upset the car "and it thing, they don't just turn you loose, so they makes you feel like you're going faster, because told me to take it easy. The second time I you're not smooth-and that was my problem. came by they were jumping up and down Next day I came out and, shit, I had second or like a Chevrolet pushrod. I was really tak- third fast time. It was easy from then on."

n his first Indy 500 in 1961, cU-.,dokie end." Not knowing Old Calhoun's owner, feelings or anything like that. They had a lot of the Year Parnelli Jones led the race for J.C. Agajanian, was arguing with Lotus of respect for me." The Brit Chapman knew I75 miles, before track debris gashed his chief Colin Chapman about the American the PR value of the Yankee Jones. eyebrow. "It was like looking through a roadster's on-track oil slick, Jones persisted, "Chapman wanted me to come and do glass of tomato juice," he says. "I pulled my keeping ahead of 's rear-engine Formula 1," he says. "But he kind of hinted goggles away and after a couple of laps it Lotus for a controversial win. around that I'd be number-two driver to quit bleeding. Then the engine went sour." Of rear-engine cars, Jones says, "I knew Jimmy Clark, and Ididn't think I was num- Jones was seventh. they were a coming thing, in fact I was the ber two to anybody." When he got pole at Indy the following only one who was outrunning them. The In 1964, Old Calhoun's time at Indy was year in his roadster, Old Calhoun, and was proof was in the pudding there. That's why nearly over; its engine started missing early first to run 150-mph laps in qualifying, he I wound up driving the Lotus for them, and in the race. Jones pitted. "When I did, they thought the Borg-Warner Trophy could be that's how you know there were no hard put this asbestos thing over the tailpipe, and his. But not yet-seventh again. somebody pulled it off too soon." Fuel, still In 1963, he says, "I was leading the race, Top: Jonesslides his way up Pikes Peak in a Mercury feeding the tank, dripped on the hot pipe goin' away, just unbelievable-until the Marauder. Below, left: As with many American racers, and ignited. "The natural instinct was to thing started leaking oil! That slowed me Jones got his start in midgets. Below, right: lones in close it to smother it out, I guess. And down for a while, and finally it quit leaking Old Calhoun, the car in which he won lndy in 1963. instead, it blew the tank up," says Jones. His and I ran some of the fastest laos right at the with I.C. Aaaianian kneeling down beside him. beloved Indy roadster's days ended in

70 SPORTS CAR INTERNATIONAL January 2007 flames, while Jones sustained second- make sure I got to the top--if I win, fine, asked Jones to come to his degree bums. if I don't, fine. place-he had something to show him. "So "The first year [I9621 I finished third. I saw the turbine for the first time:' Jones f any one word defines Jones' range of Then I won the next two. You get a little tells. "I didn't think it was going to be that driving, it's versatility. The most awe- braver every year. Friends told me, 'You're competitive." They took the ground-break- Isome of hillclimbs is a case in point. going to kill yourself. Racing's dangerous, ing huffer to Phoenix for tests. "The more I Says Jones, "Ford called me and wanted to blah blah blah.' We lost a lot of race drivers. drove it, the more interested I got in it," he know if I was interested in doing Pikes I'd said, 'Look, if I ever win , continues. "It had a 3-second throttle delay Peak-and I'm kind of the guy who likes I'll quit.' But when you do win Indy, it opens so you had to kind of outguess it. I had to see what's on the other side of the hill. doors for you in so many ways it's really dif- mixed emotions whether I wanted to go to It was probably the most dangerous race ficult to quit. So I hung on for a while." the Speedway with it or not. I asked myself, course I ever drove. For the first half in the One fine day, gregarious Indy car owner 'Do 1 want to drive it?' And I thought, 'It's trees you can give it all you want-you got to be a money decider, because I'm a don't feel like you're going to drop out of Top: In 1964 and 1%. Jones drove for Colin pretty good business man. Would I do it for sight. Then you get to the second half Chapman in a Ford-powered Lotus lndy car. Below $25,000? No. $50,000?No.' I asked if I'd where there are no trees and some places left loner won the '71 and '72 Baja 1,000 in this Fwd do it for $100,000, and said, 'Yeah."' where they could just forget about you if Bronco, nicknamed "Oly." Below right: Jones leads Jones raced the STP-sponsored turbine at you went off. I decided I was going to A.J. Foyt inTimes Grand Prim at Riverside in 1966. Indy in 1967. "It didn't have as much horse-

Janualy2007 SPORTS CAR INTERNATIONAL 71 power as everybody thought, but it had a lot second spot behind Mario. I passed arr UIU~C UI IIKCa quarter horse-I don't know any of torque. It was like a model airplane with a cars in the first turn; it wasn't like I passed better. I'd have never done well in the Baja rubber band-you wind it up and when you them on the straightaway. Then I caught races if it hadn't been for [Bill] Stroppe, release it, it has its greatest power, then just Mario coming off Turn 2, and passed him. because he would beat on my shoulder and kind of falls on its face. About half-way down He reached over and give me the finger." say, 'look, there are coyotes out here, and the straightaway it reached the maximum With Granatelli's turbine, what looked snakes-and we don't want to spend the speed it was going to run. So guys like Foyt like a winner wasn't, but Jones blames him- night with them. Slow this thing down!'lt's and Mario were passing me down at the end self for losing. "I'm not a very smart race just my make-up, that's all." in practice. They said, 'Well, he's sandbag- driver," says Jones, in his way of leveling ging, he's backing off.'The press picked it up, with himself, "because I accelerated the hen Dave McDonald, a key driver and people were sending me sandbags in the thing too hard out of the pits, and that played for Carroll Shelby's Cobra team, mail, and it got to be a big thing. a part in breaking the bearing in the rear end. was killed at Indianapolis in 1964, "So I qualified sixth. I said, 'Well, I I could've taken it a little easier, but I'm kind Carroll called Jones. "How about coming to might as well show them how good this Riverside and driving my King Cobra?" Jones thing handles, too. So when we start, Above: One of the most famous pairings in motor- recalls him saying, referring to the Cooper- Johncock was in front of me, and he come sport history-Parnelll Jones in the 1970 Trans-Am Ford Can-Am machine. "So I says, 'Sure, OK, off the wall and I just accelerated around the championship-winning Mustang Boss 302. Below, I'd love to do that, but what are we going to do outside of Turn 1 and come out-perfect left Turbine-powered car at lndy in 1967. Below about the tires?' [Jones was a Fitonedealer; timing-across the short straightaway into right: Jones' personal collection in Torrance, CA. Shelby sold Goodyears.] And he says, 'You

72 SPORTS CAR INTERNATIONAL January2007 Trans-Am Tribute

NO SMALL AMOUNT of Mustang lore is built flag. It's good for 370 horsepower and 370 rear-window slats and a black trunk id repli- around the Trans-Am battles of the late 1960s Ib-ft of torque. The aggressive exhaust note cate the look of the orig~nal. and early '70s. In 1970, Parnell~Jones won the won't win any fans ri a tiospital zone, but it Insidc, the seats are covered In td,teful champ~onshipIn a Bud Moore-prepared Ford will turn heads. two-tone, orangelblack leather, and a Saleen Mustang. Now Saleen has created a road- Nineteen-~nchFvlinil~te-style wheels fill the shift knob falls to hand and a pair of gauges going tribute to Jones and the Boss 302 with arches, givlng the vehicle a ptirposeful stance, sits atop the center of the dashboard. a Iirnited-edition version using the current like it's sniffing around for the pre-grid. Saleen Otherwise, it's pretty much stock Mustang. Mustang CT as a starting point. The result is has modified the suspension to deliver "race- The MSRP IS $61,565, including the gas- raw, not to be confused with crude. type handling." giizzler tax. While that's about double the Lowered, massaged and spoilercd, the The race motif is carried through with the price of a stock Mustang GT, exclusivity is Parnelli Jones edition comes in one color, stickers, stripes and hood pins, while remov- ensured: Only 500 units are to be built, each Grabber Orange, just like the 1970 model. An able race decals raise the visibility to the "just one exactly the same-there is no optional enlarged, 4.9-liter (302 cubic-inch) version of give me a ticket now" level. The front air dam equipment. Most are already spoken for, Ford's 4.6-liter V8 sits under a shaker hood, uses functional ducting to cool the 14-inch Saleen tells us. Production starts in late its faux scoop poking out like a testosterone Saleen front binders, while the rear spoiler, October, 2006.-David Newhardt

lanuary 2007 SPORTS CAR INTERNATIONAL 73 just run whatever's fastest'-and he knew his love for it. When you do well at places, it career, Jones eventually became a construc- Goodyears were better than my Firestones. I certainly is a lot more a part of you." In a tor, entering Formula 1 in 1974. "Firestone went out and practiced on the Goodyem, then Trans-Am race there, Jones' Ford was right and Mario," he says, "were pushing the deal, I said 'OK, let's try the Firestones.' 1 put the behind 's Chevy, Mustang because Mario was driving for us and he Firestones on, and the Firestones were versus Camaro. Jones recalls it: "He went wanted to go Formula 1 racing, and quicker--quite a bit quicker. These guys into Turn 6 and jammed the brakes on me, Firestone jumped on the bandwagon, so we couldn't believe it, they just thought I was hyp- and when he did I hit the back end of him started building the cars. ing it up, wanting to protect my half. and it tore my spoiler up. I can't believe he "Just about the time we finished them, 'Then they had the Goodyears back on. did that. I went down into Turn 7, and 1took Firestone decided to get out of open-wheel And I said, 'What's this? We're going to run a dive at him and I missed and went off in Indy and Formula I racing. We already had the Firestones.' They said, 'No, no, we had the dirt. So I waited for him to come around a big investment in the cars, so they wound a little meeting last night and decided we and he caught me just before we were going up paying us off-and we had enough were going to run the Goodyears. And I into Turn 6, and when he came up behind money to run close to one year. And we did, said, 'Well. shit, I just had a meeting, and me I planted the brakes and let him hit the though we couldn't continue. But we were decided 1 ain't driving it!'So I grab my hel- back of me, and he spun and went up the accepted really well over there-that part I met and leave. Pretty soon they come look- side of the hill. I think what he thought, liked about it." This past July at Goodwood in England, Jones witnessed that same kind of accept- "I COULD'VE TAKEN IT A LITTLE EASIER, BUT I'M KIND OF ance when he and fellow American racing LIKE A QUARTER HORSE-I DON'T KNOW ANY BETTER." legends and Richard Petty were invited over for the Festival of Speed. "1 drove our Indy-winning car up the hill and ing for me, and said, 'Will you at least qual- when I'd come up behind him, that I was also drove the Trans-Am car," says Jones. ify the car?' I said, 'On Firestone tires?' George Follmer. Anyway, that's my story. "It was like putting on a glove. And it's They said, 'Yeah, on Firestones,' but they And we never did get along.'' amazing how knowledgeable they are there didn't like it. Anyway, 1 qualified third Of course, Jones won his Trans-Am about our American racing." quick. At that point, they decided they'd championship in 1970, and that orange #15 High on the short list of racing's greatest probably better protect their Ford interest, 1 Boss 302 lives on today in vintage racing. ever, Parnelli Jones has spent his entire life guess, and the rest is history." Jones won that "We had a little bit of a problem during the running a race with himself, and still does. '64 Times Grand Prix. middle of that year, but we started out good "I always had more desire than talent," he "It was a great race course:' says Jones and wound up good." insists. In our opinion, that's precisely how of Riverside Raceway. "I built up a lot of In a natural progression of his racing it should be.

74 SPORTS CAR INTERNATIONAL january 2M)7