One of the toughest and most wide-ranging racers ever, and certainly Old School.
Inevitable, sure - but I'm pretty sad about it nonetheless.

One of the greats. RIP.

I saw him race quite a few times.

Godspeed PJ

First time I saw him race was 1960 at Daytona 500. Always had if I remember a clean driving reputation/
However, if I remember correctly, he once won Indy 500 back when cars were not allowed to add any oil during the race, so they ran somewhat large oil tanks. During the race his cars was losing oil, and near the end it was getting ready to run out of oil while leading.
So they added water to the oil, and won the race.

RIP

Jones was quite an accomplished driver, respected by many. may he rest in peace........

funny related story.......

my brother was working the second shift one night, getting off at 1am, and the usual way home was to hop on the interstate.
one night, for some reason [lost in time and memory], the one lane was closed, and there was orange cones placed in the center of the two lanes for quite a distance.
he figured since there was no traffic, he would try to see how his 72 satellite sebring plus roadrunner wannabe would do in a "slalom course".
having a blast, he didn't notice a trooper sitting in a "turn around" observing him intently, due to his headlights weaving back and forth at a high speed.
needless to say, he got pulled over, and the first thing the trooper said to him was : "Who do ya think you are ? Parnelli Jones ?"................
my brother responded : "Since there was no traffic, I just wanted to see how my car would react in an emergency situation.".............
the trooper wasn't impressed, and little bro got a ticket. and for good measure, the trooper made him remove the "waving hand suction cup" gizmo he had on his windshield beside the mirror that said : "Have a NICE day !"...........
i sent him Jones' obituary, and he responded : "Bet he never got pulled over for driving a "cone course" !

Went to get a image of Parnelli , wow this guy raced everything!

He was a very loyal driver of Mercury's and Ford's across the board.

Oh no. Another legend gone

When I was a kid and someone would drive fast or aggressively my parents would always say “Take it easy Parnelli!” Sometimes they’d say it to each other…

I think he raced in the early Baja 1000 and Baja 500 off road races also
I think he would race anything with four wheels in any form

That is where I first saw him race.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnelli_Jones

Got to see him run in this....

The story goes that the Big Oly deal & race came about when - might have been Bill Stroppe - told Parnelli he might not be "man enough".
That's all it took
Parnelli's drive in the '70 TA race at Riverside was epic, and still talked about today.
The car was so damaged that he'd whack a front wheel & tire against the track-limit curbing (& planted tires, IIRC) to get it to turn...

And yeah, since the '60s any good stunt behind the wheel often earned a "Parnelli" comment.

The Bill Stroppe Mercury Nascar cars were the most detailed good-looking cars on the grid back in the 60's.
If I remember correctly, they had the only metallic paint jobs, I mean who puts metallic on a Nascar race car in the early 60's?

Awesome truck! I love this sticker too.