Parnelli Jones
And finally – and out of alphabetical order because he’s the one who stands apart – the pole man: Parnelli Jones.
This Arkansas-born Californian arrived at Indy in 1961 with a fearsome reputation on ovals, dirt or paved, and out of the cockpit as well as in. He led but finished 12th after being hit in the face by a rock – and shared the Rookie of the Year with Bobby Marshman. He would never start beyond the second row for his six remaining attempts and with more luck would have won four; 1963 – his roadster fending off Jim Clark’s ‘funny car’ Lotus in controversial circumstances – remained his only win. The first to qualify at over 150mph, he is reckoned to have discovered a whole new groove at the Brickyard. Yet he reckoned himself to be a more natural road-course drive – when finally he turned his hand to them: in 1964, he smoked established stars to win the big sportscar bash at Riverside. That same year he had also adapted swiftly to rear-engine single-seaters, winning at Milwaukee and Trenton, outrunning Jim Clark at the latter event, in Lotus-Fords. Colin Chapman offered him a drive, but Jones did not fancy playing second fiddle to Clark. Besides, he reckoned Champ Car racing to have been more professional – and lucrative – than F1 at the time. Mario Andretti reckons that Jones never did ‘get’ F1 – the Vel’s Parnelli team ran him from the end of 1974 to the start of 1976 – and his opinion carries great weight. He also thinks that: a) he would never have his 1965 national title had Jones stuck around; and b) that Jones had everyone covered.
With further apologies to AJ Foyt – and to Laurent Aïello, Bobby Allison, Didier Artzet, Jean-Christophe Bouchut, Ryan Briscoe, Ross Cheever, Bertrand Fabi, the Ferté brothers, Billy Foster, Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Gary Paffett, Roy Pike, Rickard Rydell, Dan Wheldon and any one else self-evidently – or maybe not so obviously – should have been included on this list.
Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.