He was born Rufus Parnell Jones.
But nobody called him that — except maybe his mother.
At an early age, when Jones was growing up in Torrance, a teenage friend knew Parnell had a crush on a girl named Nellie so he put an “ie” on Parnell and Parnellie stuck (after the “e” was taken off at the end).
Eventually, he became known to the world as Parnelli Jones, one of the greatest stars in motorsports history, who many observers say should be on the Mt. Rushmore of racing legends alongside Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt and Dan Gurney.
At 89, he is the oldest living winner of the Indy 500, which he won in 1963. He also has been dubbed “Mr. Versatility” for all of the different cars he has raced in and owned.
And while he never won the Long Beach Grand Prix, having retired from open-wheel racing before his hometown event began, he has always supported it — and been a regular attendee.
But because of health issues related to Parkinson’s disease and advancing age, Jones will not attend this year’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which takes place Friday to Sunday, April 14-16. Instead, he will watch the race on TV from his longtime home in Rolling Hills, he said in a phone interview last week.
“Parnelli is truly a major contributor to the racing world and a great supporter of the Long Beach Grand Prix over all of these years,” Jim Michaelian, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, said last week. “We’ll miss seeing him this year.”
It’s hard to imagine that one of motorsport’s greatest drivers and fiercest competitors doesn’t drive his own personal car anymore.
“I stopped driving about three years ago,” he said. “I miss it, but there are some things I just can’t do.”
Jones had been involved with the Grand Prix since it started. Jones and his business partner, Velko “Vet” Miletich, were co-owners of Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing team for the first Formula 5000 race in Long Beach on Sept. 28, 1975. Their team consisted of powerhouse drivers Mario Andretti and Al Unser Sr. That inaugural race was won by Brian Redman, with Andretti finishing 13th and Unser 20th.
Those famous racing names were invaluable in helping get the fledgling Long Beach race off the ground and eventually becoming the premier motorcar street race in the United States.
“There’s no question that Parnelli played an integral role in the early years of the Long Beach Grand Prix,” Michaelian said.
Later in his career, Jones also participated in several pro-celebrity races connected with Long Beach Grand Prix weekend.
“His races with Dan Gurney were legendary,” Michaelian said.
Jones was inducted into the Long Beach Motorsport Walk of Fame in 2008.
Jones was born on Aug. 12, 1933, in Texarkana, Arkansas. But when he was 2, his family moved in the middle of the Great Depression to Torrance for a better life.
His initial means of transportation as a youngster was a horse, which he kept on a nearby dairy farm. But he sold the horse to buy something that appealed more to the racing in his blood — a hot rod car.
He dropped out of Torrance High and started looking for races to compete in.
There was a hitch, however: He was a minor, and the legal age for entering the race was 18.
But he wanted to race. So at 17, with his new name of Parnelli, he lied about his age and entered his first contest, a jalopy race at the now-defunct Carrell Speedway in Gardena.
That led to more jalopy races and then a major step up when he began racing and winning in NASCAR and open wheel cars in the 1950s. Early in his racing career, Jones traveled the circuit in a station wagon with his pal, Jim Hurtubise, according to an article in Mecum Magazine.
They would take turns driving and sleep in the back of the station wagon. Jones’s wife, Judy, said it was this kind of determination that drove her husband to so much success in his racing career.
Jones’s first race in the Indianapolis 500 came in 1961, when he was named co-Rookie of the Year with Bobby Marshman. He was leading in that race, but was struck by a stone or piece of metal, bloodying his face and slowing him to a 12th-place finish.
In 1962, he was the first driver to qualify at more than 150 mph at the Indy 500, but he finished seventh in the race itself.
Finally, in 1963, Jones won the Indy 500, overcoming an oil leak that threatened to disqualify him.
In 1967, he was leading in the race but dropped out with three laps to go when a small transmission bearing broke. That was to be Jones’s last Indy 500 as a driver and his last race in an open cockpit car.
He continued to race in stock cars and off-road cars, though, winning the Baja 1000 twice, the Baja 500 twice and the Mint 400 once. He felt these cars were safer than the open cockpit cars.
He married Judy on July 15, 1967. They have two sons, P.J., who is a race driver, and Page, who was a racer but was injured in an crash and is no longer driving. P.J. also has a son, Jagger, who is a race driver as well.
Having a family played a role in Jones wanting to race in safer vehicles. That was 55 years ago.
“Best decision I ever made,” Jones said during the interview. “Living with Judy have been the best years of my life.”
Judy, for her part, will attend the Grand Prix this year with Page and his daughter Joie, as well as with family friend Iggy Estrada.
Jones retired from racing for good in 1974 but continued on as a team owner and businessman in an amazing motorsports career. He owned and operated several successful businesses, including Parnelli Jones Tire Centers, a chain of Firestone Racing Tires and several wheel manufacturing companies.
Jones said he will miss not going to the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach this year.
“I love the Long Beach Grand Prix,” he said. “It’s in my backyard, only a half hour or so from my house
“The Grand Prix is great for Long Beach and racing,” Jones added. “The Indy 500 has the largest crowd, but Long Beach has the second largest. I’ve been behind the Long Beach Grand Prix since it started. I hope it goes on forever.”