Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing

Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing, commonly referred to simply as Parnelli or VPJ, was a motor racing constructor and team from the United States. The team was formed in 1969 by former USAC racer Parnelli Jones and his business partner Velko "Vel" Miletich. Parnelli was initially solely concerned with USAC racing, where success came quickly; their driver Al Unser won the Indianapolis 500 race in 1970, driving a VPJ Colt, after leading 190 of the 200 racing laps. Unser went on to win the USAC championship. Unser repeated the Indy 500 win in 1971 with a new Colt built without the left side chassis offset that had been made illegal by 1971 rules, ending the season in fourth place in the USAC drivers points while teammate Joe Leonard won the championship.

Parnelli Jones Racing
Full nameVel's Parnelli Jones Racing
Founder(s)Parnelli Jones
Velko Miletich
Noted driversUnited States Mario Andretti
United States Al Unser
United States Joe Leonard
Formula One World Championship career
First entry1974 Canadian Grand Prix
Races entered16[1]
EnginesCosworth
Constructors'
Championships		0 (best finish: 10th, 1975)
Drivers'
Championships		0
Race victories0 (best finish: 4th, 1975 Swedish Grand Prix)
Points6
Pole positions0 (best grid position: 3rd, 1974 United States Grand Prix)
Fastest laps1
Final entry1976 United States Grand Prix West

Racing

Parnelli secured the services of ex-Team Lotus designer Maurice Philippe and driver Mario Andretti for USAC racing in the early 1970s, and in 1974 decided to move into Formula One racing, with financial support from tire manufacturer Firestone. After a brief foray into Formula One at the end of the 1974 season, Vel's Parnelli Jones mounted a full campaign in 1975. Their Parnelli VPJ4 car owed much to Philippe's Lotus 72 design. It appeared for the North American races at the end of the 1974 season and was gradually developed through 1975. However, Firestone's decision to quit racing at the end of 1974 meant that a major partner was lost. Jones was unable to find a replacement title sponsor and despite improvements made to the car the team folded only three races into the 1976 season. Andretti only learned of the Formula One team's future from journalist Chris Economaki, as he sat in the car on the grid for the Long Beach Grand Prix. This led to some bad feeling between Andretti and Jones, and Andretti returned to Lotus for the remainder of the season. In total, Vel's Parnelli Jones participated in 16 Grands Prix and scored 6 championship points.

Concurrent with the Formula One venture, VPJ was developing a turbocharged version of Cosworth's legendary DFV V8 Formula One engine, building on their experience from the previous two years. It was developed at their facility in Torrance, California, under the direction of engine builder Larry Slutter and dyno engineer "Chickie" Hirashima. The car debuted at the Speedway in 1975 in a modified Indy version of the Formula One Parnelli chassis, although it was not run regularly until late in 1976. This private project was quickly adopted by Cosworth itself, and the Parnelli engine evolved into the equally legendary Cosworth DFX, an engine which would go on to win every Indianapolis 500 race and USAC/CART Championship between 1978 and 1987.

IndyCar champions
Year Champion Wins Chassis Engine Tires
1970 United States Al Unser 10 Colt,
King		 Ford Firestone
1971 United States Joe Leonard 1 Colt 70,
Colt 71		 Ford Firestone
1972 United States Joe Leonard (2) 3 Parnelli VPJ-1 Offenhauser Firestone

Indianapolis 500 victories
Year Champion Chassis Engine Tires
1970 United States Al Unser Colt 70 Ford Firestone
1971 United States Al Unser (2) Colt 71 Ford Firestone

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Chassis Engine Tires Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Points WCC
1974 Parnelli VPJ4 Ford Cosworth DFV V8 F ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA 0 NC
United States Mario Andretti 7 DSQ
1975 Parnelli VPJ4 Ford Cosworth DFV V8 F
G		 ARG BRA RSA ESP MON BEL SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA 5 10th
United States Mario Andretti Ret 7 17 RetF Ret 4 5 12 10 Ret Ret Ret
1976 Parnelli VPJ4B Ford Cosworth DFV V8 G BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA JPN 1 13th
United States Mario Andretti 6 Ret

Non-Championship results

(key)

Year Chassis Engine Driver 1 2 3
1975 Parnelli VPJ4 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC INT SUI
United States Mario Andretti 3

References
  1. "Parnelli's results at formula1.com". Formula One Results. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  • Lyons, P. 2007. Keeping up with the Jones. Motor Sport. LXXXIII/1 (January 2007), 52-59
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