LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Parnelli Jones' record of six Indy car and four NASCAR wins doesn't reflect his contemporary status in the sport.
He was the man many of his rivals feared most.
"As far as I'm concerned, Parnelli Jones was the greatest driver of his era," said Mario Andretti. "He had aggressiveness and also a finesse that no one else possessed. And he won with everything he put his hands on, including off-road."
Jones packed a lot into what was basically a 10-year top-line racing career, as well as the years he later spent as a team owner and prominent Firestone tire dealer. He was honored for those achievements Thursday night in Long Beach at the second annual Road Racing Drivers Club dinner to benefit Jeremy Shaw's Team USA scholarship.
A who's who of drivers ranging from young champions (and Team USA scholarship winners) Connor Daly and JR Hildebrand to Indy winners Danny Sullivan and Rick Mears turned out to pay respects to a man racing insiders consider one of the all-time greats.
RRDC president Bobby Rahal served as the evening's emcee, joined by special guests Dario Franchitti and Robin Miller for a Q&A session that touched on the many phases of Jones' diverse career, which included victories in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and the Trans Am sports car championship.
"It's an honor to be here honoring Parnelli tonight," Franchitti said. "Not only is he a man who could drive anything quickly -- and I really mean anything -- I went 'round the museum last night and some of the stuff he's driven ... wow!
"Possibly one of the toughest guys ever in racing," Franchitti added. "He could completely kick the ass of anyone I've ever met. He looks like he's made out of granite. I'm glad I didn't have to race against him because he would have definitely kicked my ass!"
Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing originated the three-car superteam concept by fielding Andretti alongside Joe Leonard and Al Unser in 1972-73. Unser won the 1970 USA championship and the 1970 and '71 Indianapolis 500 for the team, while Leonard was USAC champion in 1971 and '72. Unser and Andretti also won Formula 5000 championship races for VPJR.
"That worked pretty well," Jones said. "We won 53 Indy car races, and it was great until Roger Penske came along."
The only forms of racing Jones missed out on were Le Mans prototypes and Formula One.
"I drove Lotus Indy cars for Colin Chapman, and he talked to me about Formula One," Jones said. "No respect to Jim Clark, but I felt Chapman wanted me to be No. 2 to Jimmy, and I wasn't a No. 2 to anybody.
"Ford offered me the chance to run at Le Mans, but I was having problems finishing shorter races -- like 500 miles -- so I thought I had better work on that instead."
A day earlier, Franchitti spent the evening in Torrance viewing Jones' private collection of cars. In partnership with Vel Miletich, Parnelli was a successful racing car constructor from 1971-80, including trail-blazing Indy car designs like the failed 1972 dihedral wing car.
USF1 talked a lot of smack about building a Formula One car in America, but Jones and Miletich actually did it in Torrance. Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing competed in F1 from 1974-76, with Mario Andretti scoring several top-five finishes.
The team then revolutionized Indy car racing by transforming the VPJ4 F1 car into the VPJ6 Indy car by engineering a 2.65-liter turbocharged version of the 3-liter Cosworth DFV F1 engine. By the late '70s, the turbo Cosworth DFX rendered all other Indy engines obsolete.
Franchitti was especially excited by Jones' Lotus 34 Indy car, the very car he drove to victory at the Milwaukee Mile and Clark put on pole for the 1964 Indianapolis 500.
"Parnelli is the first person that ever let me sit in one of Jim Clark's cars, and they had to drag me out of it," Franchitti said. "It was quite something."
