TORRANCE, Calif. — Parnelli Jones, the 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner, died Tuesday at Torrance Memorial Medical Heart after a battle with Parkinson’s illness, his son mentioned. Jones was 90.

On the time of his demise, Jones was the oldest dwelling winner of “The Biggest Spectacle in Racing.”

Rufus Parnell Jones was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, in 1933 however moved to Torrance as a younger youngster and by no means left. It was there that he turned “Parnelli” as a result of his given title of Rufus was too well-known for him to compete with out locals understanding his true identification and that he wasn’t sufficiently old to race.

A buddy got here up with “Parnellie,” which was painted on the door of Jones’s 1934 Ford jalopy. The ultimate “e” was finally dropped; the title remained.

Jones in 1962 turned the primary driver in at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to qualify at over 150 mph with a four-lap common of 150.370. He was the Indy 500 pole-sitter in 1962 and 1963 and co-rookie of the yr with Bobby Marshman in 1961.

He made seven begins at Indianapolis from 1961 by means of 1967 and led in 5 of these races for a complete of 492 laps — which is the eighth-highest laps led whole within the race’s historical past. In the one two begins he did not lead in 1965 and 1966, Jones ran largely in second place. He completed second in 1965 and retired from there with mechanical bother in 1966.

Thought of one of the vital versatile drivers of his time, Jones moved to different automobiles and received the Baja 1000 twice and a Trans-Am championship. He additionally had 4 Cup Sequence victories in NASCAR in addition to wins in USAC dash vehicles and midgets.

Jones is survived by his spouse of practically 57 years, Judy, sons PJ and Web page and 6 grandchildren. Each of Jones’ sons had skilled racing careers. PJ Jones adopted in his father’s footsteps by beginning the Indianapolis 500 in 2004 and 2006. Web page Jones was making nice strides on Midwest brief tracks till he suffered severe accidents in a crash in 1994, ending his driving profession.

Parnelli Jones was inducted into quite a few Halls of Fame, together with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corridor of Fame, the Nationwide Motorsports Corridor of Fame and each the Nationwide Dash Automotive and Nationwide Midget Halls of Fame.