I like this photo of Parnelli looking very happy to be sitting in his old Trans Am Mustang that he won the 1970 Championship with. His friends called him Rufus but most fans knew him as Parnelli. His accomplishments in race cars are epic, Indy 1963, Pikes Peak Hillclimb twice in a row, 1970 Tans Am Champ, Baja 1000 twice. He was an Ol' School Racer, charging 100% all the time, get outta my way, I'm gonna win this thing and he did more often than not. In a great many variety of cars over a many decades career. He was an incredible business man with Auto Dealerships and a giant chain of Parnelli Jones Firestone Auto Parts Stores. He was a great visionary in race car design and his team built and campaigned many successful Indy Car Teams and USAC Champ Dirt Cars and a Formula 1 team with non other than Mario Andretti driving. I had the very good fortune to meet and hang out with the great man himself. Circa 1981, I moved to So Cal and lived in the South Bay, up on the hill in Rancho Palos Verdes. We could hear the first lap of the Sprint Car Races at Ascot, when they all romped on the gas making one beautiful roar that would waft up to us, BBQin' in the backyard. I knew they had Go-Kart Races every Wednesday night on the Ascot 1/4 mile inside the 1/2 mile. A customer of mine, P.O. Bahn and Sons Chainsaw Shop in Santa Monica was racing Karts at Indian Dunes Dirt Track and I bought his Emmick Arrow II. I didn't know jack shit about karts so I look for a Kart shop in my area and found Brad Coleman Karting in Torrance and tell him my Ascot intentions. He has been racing at Ascot for years along with a lot of his customers. He freshens up my ride and shows me the basics and invites me to try it out with him at a Police Road Race Training track on Terminal Island in Los Angeles Harbor. He built two Dirt Karts for some young kids for their start in racing and we are all going to meet Saturday morning. When Brad and I arrive I am astonished to see the two kids are P.J. and Page Jones with their Dad Parnelli Jones ! Turns out we had a great time for probably 4 weekends, slidin' around and getting the hang of these fantastic little machines. When we were driving, Parnelli was jogging around the place, sweating his ass off, keeping fit as a fiddle. Opening Night of the Kart Season, we show up and roll out onto the track for practice. The boys were in Kids classes and I was in Yamaha 100 Heavy. The track was moist, tacky and fast. We got one practice session because there where lots of classes. I come rolling back into the pit, get out of the kart and here comes Parnelli, " Man, you look like your lost out there!" He say's LOOK! and he squats down and with his finger, draws the track in the dirt. "Here is what you gotta do. You come down the straight, you get to this point, right here and you decide, High or Low depending on the situation. Go get'em !" I studied his dirt map and grit my teeth determined to get it right. I won the First Heat, won the Second Heat and I am sitting in the kart ready to fire up for the Main and I hear the announcer say my name and winning both heats, I am expected to win this one too. Pressure on. I get out front and stay there. With two to go I got someone on the inside, right even with me on the straight. I muscle the challenger down to the left to get to my spot and go high, Ha ! eat my dust! and on to the Checkers. I roll into my Pit and Parnelli runs up hootin' and hollerin' and miming like he has a big camera and he is taking photos of the big winner. Thats the kind of guy he was. A giant amoung men, yet humble enough to make someone else feel like a million bucks. R.I.P. Rufus.
