Jones Is No Longer a Far Cry

INDIANAPOLIS — Parnelli Jones, perhaps the toughest guy to drive at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was in tears Sunday.

His 35-year-old son, P.J., had just qualified for his first Indianapolis 500, 41 years after Parnelli won the race they call the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

“I never wanted my boys to be race car drivers because I know it’s a dangerous sport,” Parnelli said, “but this is something special. It will mean a lot to Page.”

Page Jones, a couple of years younger than P.J., suffered a near-fatal accident in a sprint car race 10 years ago at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, and has never completely recovered. He is home in California, but is coming for the 500.

“Page called me almost as soon as I crossed the finish line,” P.J. said. “He was really excited. You know, he is my hero. With what he’s been through, in a coma and all that, and all the work he’s done rehabilitating, he’s the real hero. So he’s my hero. He’ll be here for the race. It’s something he and I have dreamed and talked about since we were little kids racing each other in go karts.”

The 500 also will be a revival of one of racing’s greatest rivalries between Parnelli Jones and A.J. Foyt, whose son Larry and grandson A.J. qualified last week. The last time there was a Jones and a Foyt in the same 500 was 1967, a race won by Foyt after Jones had led for 171 of the 200 laps.

P.J. Jones was the first of seven drivers who qualified Sunday to fill the traditional field of 33 for the 88th Indianapolis 500 next Sunday. His four-lap speed around the 2.5-mile rectangular oval was 213.355 mph, good enough for the outside of the 11th and last row.

Other Bump Day qualifiers were Greg Ray, 216.641; 1996 winner Buddy Lazier, 215.110; rookie Jeff Simmons, 214.783; Richie Hearn, 213.715; 45-year-old rookie Marty Roth, 211.974; and Robby McGehee, 211.631.

Tony Stewart, the 2002 Winston Cup champion, stunned Speedway officials and the 1,000 or so spectators who came for Bump Day by flying in from Charlotte, N.C., where he finished third in the Nextel All-Star race Saturday night. The unpredictable Stewart, who won an Indy Racing League championship in 1997 before turning to NASCAR, took a physical and showed up in Foyt’s garage apparently ready to drive one of A.J.’s No. 14 cars and put it in the race.

Stewart got as far as pit lane and the Foyt crew had the engine warming up, but after Cary Agajanian, Stewart’s attorney, explained the ramifications of his driving in the 500, the whole scenario was called off.

“According to Cary, legally I can’t do it,” a disappointed Stewart said. “There’s a couple of variables in the equation that kept us from doing it legally, so if we do it, and I hope it’s next year, we’ve got to do it the right way.”

Stewart is under contract to Chevrolet -- Foyt’s car is Toyota powered -- Home Depot and Joe Gibbs Racing in his NASCAR program. He also runs sprint cars, however, that are Mopar sponsored.

“You know, A.J. and I are pretty emotional about this place. When this whole thing started, it really wasn’t a serious deal when I got here, but the more A.J. and I talked, the more excited we got. But we got a lot of people who support our stock car program deal, and the two groups that called wanted us to do it, but there are conflicts with their companies.”

Jones’ qualification, which came after he had only 35 laps of practice in the No. 98 Chevrolet-powered Dallara that was pieced together by the Greg Beck Motorsports crew in the last four days, came with a touch of deja vu.

One of the owners is the Agajanian family, whose father J.C., owned the No. 98 that Parnelli Jones drove to victory in 1963, and another of the owners, Greg Beck, is the son of Roger Beck, who raced against Parnelli in jalopies and was a fabricator on his Indy-winning car. Cary Agajanian, who is P.J.’s attorney as well as Stewart’s, is J.C.’s eldest son.

The other owner is record magnate Mike Curb.

The path from son of an Indy champion to making the field at 35 has been long and circuitous for the slender P.J.

“I came here the first time when I was 18 for a midget race at the Speedrome and thought I’d be back for the 500 by the time I was 21,” he said. “Just looking back over the years and thinking about how many years we wasted not being here for whatever reason was kind of sorry. Then, career-wise going more toward NASCAR racing and racing a bit down there cost some more time.

“Then having the accident here two years ago with a great car, I really wondered if I’d ever make it.”

Jones was taking a practice lap before 2002 qualifying when he crashed in the first turn and suffered a broken neck.

“That was weird because I didn’t hurt and I expected Dr. [Henry] Bock to give me an OK to drive in a day or two. Then he said the X-rays showed a broken vertebrae and when he told me another hit before it healed could be fatal and that was the end of that.”

Jones spent most of last year working on his construction business in North Carolina, building houses and selling them. On the race track, he made one Nextel Cup start, one Craftsman Truck race and a few U.S. Auto Club short-track races.

Before coming here two weeks ago, P.J. had finished fourth in a USAC Silver Crown race May 8 in Memphis.

“If you spend too much time out of these cars, it’s like everyone will forget about you. Having this deal put together at the last minute last week, coming here without a ride and it all falling together is pretty awesome.

“It’s also been nerve-racking. You think, ‘OK, we have plenty of time.’ Wednesday goes by, Thursday goes by, Friday goes by. Finally we got out a little bit yesterday and today trying to knock the rust off.”

Parnelli, while happy for his son’s success, was not too pleased with how it came about.

“It’s difficult to see your son come here with a secondary -- and I don’t say a secondary team, but without a lot of time. When you come here you need to come early, run some laps for preparation. Look at P.J., he doesn’t have 50 laps here, then look at [Helio] Castroneves, he’s got probably three 500-mile races under his belt.”

Parnelli said there was no comparison between qualifying for his first 500 in 1961 and P.J.’s.

“I came here with Aggie in a good car and qualified in the middle of the second row,” Parnelli said. “I led 27 laps and could have won the race. Of course, things were a lot different back then. It was about 50% car and 50% driver. Today, with all the engineering and stuff, the car has become much more important in winning.”

The field has eight rookies, three former winners and an almost perfect balance among engine manufacturers with 12 Toyotas, 11 Hondas -- including the first seven qualifiers -- and 10 Chevrolets.