* 1933 – Parnelli Jones, American race car driver

For open wheel racing, 1967's revolutionary STP-Paxton Turbocar fielded by racing and entrepreneurial legend Andy Granatelli and driven by Parnelli Jones nearly won the Indianapolis 500 ; the Pratt & Whitney ST6B-62 powered turbine car was almost a lap ahead of the second place car when a gearbox bearing failed just three laps from the finish line.

In 1970, Mustang won the SCCA Trans-Am series manufacturers ’ championship again, with Parnelli Jones and George Follmer driving for car owner / builder Bud Moore and crew chief Lanky Foushee.

* Parnelli Jones, 1963 Indianapolis 500 champion

Many of the most legendary drivers of the past 50 years have raced there including Ted Horn, Parnelli Jones, AJ Foyt, Bobby and Al Unser, Mario Andretti, Larry Dickson, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Gordon.

That year he also competed in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time, and he finished in second position behind Parnelli Jones and won Rookie of the Year honours.

** 30 May – Parnelli Jones wins the 47th running of the Indianapolis 500 in the Agajanian / Willard Battery Special Watson-Offenhauser

When the two fastest Lotus-Fords, driven by Jim Clark and Bobby Marshman, fell out of the race with mechanical problems, and Parnelli Jones was knocked out when his fuel tank exploded during a pit stop, Foyt was left alone at the front of the field, and cruised home to win his second Indianapolis 500.

In the 1967 Indianapolis 500, Parnelli Jones ' STP-Paxton Turbocar was expected to easily defeat the field of piston engines.

In January 1965, Foyt qualified and ran in the front of the pack most of the day with Dan Gurney and Parnelli Jones in the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside.

The track doctor at Riverside International Raceway pronounced Foyt dead at the scene of the severe crash, but fellow driver Parnelli Jones revived him after seeing movement.

As of November 2011, Foyt stands as only the third-oldest living winner of the Indianapolis 500 ( Parnelli Jones and Bobby Unser are older ), but the longest-ago living winner ( 1961 ).

* Parnelli Smith-An auto racing champ and supplier of cars to APE, his name was a takeoff on former Indy 500 champion Parnelli Jones.

Foyt, Mario Andretti, Johnny Rutherford, Parnelli Jones, Johnnie Parsons, and Al Unser Jr., as well as NASCAR Sprint Cup champions Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.

Ford's factory team was run by Bud Moore Engineering with Parnelli Jones and George Follmer the drivers.

By 1975 Barnard had been hired by Parnelli Jones to work alongside Maurice Philippe designing the team's Formula One racer which campaigned from 1974 to 1976.

After Philippe left Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing, Barnard modified the design for the Indycar circuit.

A 2. 65L turbocharged version of the DFV was developed privately by the Vels Parnelli Jones team for the 1976 USAC season.

Andretti gave the home crowd a charge when he was fastest on Friday in the British-designed, California-built Vel's Parnelli Jones car, just two weeks after its Canadian debut.

Graham Hill ran a new team of Lolas, the larger-than-life Hesketh team entered its own car after running James Hunt in a March, and Americans Roger Penske and Parnelli Jones entered their own cars late in the season.

Crash crews assumed Foyt was dead at the scene, until fellow driver Parnelli Jones noticed a twitch of movement.

The speedway Board of Directors when the track opened consisted of Chairman Dan Lufkin, of Donaldson, Lufkin, Jenrette ; CEO David Lockton ; Donald Riehl, of DLJ ; William Loorz, CEO of Stolte Construction ; Paul Newman, Kirk Douglas, and Dick Smothers from the entertainment industry ; J. C. Agajanian, an American motor sport promoter and race car owner ; Parnelli Jones, 1963 winner of the Indianapolis 500 ; Roger Penske, retired race car driver, race car owner and auto related business entrepreneur ; Briggs Cunningham, an American sportsman who raced cars and yachts ; and Chuck Barnes, Chairman and CEO of Sports Headliners, and former Director of Public Relations for Firestone Tires.

In 1970, Posey was the driver for Ray Caldwell's factory-backed Autodynamics Dodge Challenger in Trans-Am, racing against Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, Mark Donohue and Jim Hall in what most racing historians regard as the greatest season of professional road racing in US history.

Andretti terminated his relationship with Miletich and Parnelli Jones that day, but the next morning, by accident, joined Lotus team manager Colin Chapman for breakfast in a Long Beach coffee shop, where the two forged an agreement.

Sound for the concert was engineered by Bill Hanley, whose innovations in the sound industry have earned him the prestigious Parnelli Award.

American Mario Andretti, after qualifying in an excellent third position, was disqualified when the engine in his Parnelli stalled on the grid and his crew push started him.

A lap down in fifth was British driver John Watson in a Penske PC3 with Mario Andretti sixth in a Parnelli VPJ4B.

As the season progressed the Parnelli 6C ( which was already a two year old car ) started to struggle due its age.

The car was disallowed and Interscope brought out their Parnelli 6C-Cosworth.

Mario Andretti had moved from fifteenth on the grid to ninth in the Parnelli VPJ 4B-Ford, including the fastest lap to that point, but was finished when he lost the water in his engine ( although he didn't actually stop until lap 15 when the engine had completely cooked ).

Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing, commonly referred to simply as Parnelli or VPJ, was a motor racing constructor and team from the USA.

The team was formed in 1969 by former USAC racer Parnelli Jones and his business partner Velko " Vel " Miletich.

Parnelli was initially solely concerned with USAC racing, where success came quickly ; their driver Al Unser won the Indianapolis 500 race in 1970, driving a VPJ Lola car, after leading 190 of the 200 racing laps.

The car debuted at the Speedway in 1975 in a modified Indy version of the Formula One Parnelli chassis, although it was not run regularly until late in 1976.

This private project was quickly adopted by Cosworth itself, and the Parnelli engine evolved into the equally legendary Cosworth DFX, an engine which would go on to win every Indianapolis 500 race and USAC / CART Championship between 1978 and 1987.

From 1967 to 1972, the race was organized by the National Off-Road Racing Association ( NORRA ) and grew in popularity with ABC's " Wide World of Sports " sending Jim McKay to cover the 1968 event, and attracting new participants like the late Mickey Thompson, Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones and movie actor James Garner.

He 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 secured the services of ex-Team Lotus designer Maurice Philippe and driver Mario Andretti for USAC racing in the early 1970s, and in 1974 decided to move into Formula One racing, with financial support from tire manufacturer Firestone.

Ongais made his CART debut during the 1979 SCCA-CART / PPG World Series season driving the # 25 Panasonic / Interscope Racing Parnelli 6C-Cosworth DFX.

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 retired with mechanical issues, leaving Gurney and Foyt to contest the lead.

* 1979 A. J. Foyt ( Parnelli *)

Finally, Mario took his place on the grid, but when starter Tex Hopkins dropped the green flag, the Parnelli car sat still, and the field had to scramble to avoid him.

At the start, Vittorio Brambilla's March tangled with Mario Andretti's Parnelli.