View source for Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing

{{short description|American racecar team and constructor}}
{{Former F1 team |
 Short_name = Parnelli Jones Racing |
 Long_name = Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing |
 Logo =  |
 Base =  |
 Founders = [[Parnelli Jones]]<br>Velko Miletich |
 Staff =  |
 Drivers = {{flagicon|USA}} [[Mario Andretti]]<br>{{flagicon|USA}} [[Al Unser]]<br>{{flagicon|USA}} [[Joe Leonard]] |
 Engines = [[Cosworth]] |
 Debut = [[1974 Canadian Grand Prix]] |
 Races = 16<ref name=ref >{{cite web|url= http://www.chicanef1.com/indiv.pl?name=Parnelli&type=C |title= Parnelli's results at formula1.com|work= Formula One Results |access-date= 1 February 2012 }}</ref> |
 Cons_champ = 0 <small>(best finish: 10th, {{F1|1975}})</small>|
 Drivers_champ = 0|
 Wins = 0 <small>(best finish: 4th, [[1975 Swedish Grand Prix]])</small>|
 Poles = 0 <small>(best grid position: 3rd, [[1974 United States Grand Prix]])</small>|
 Fastest_laps = 1 |
 Points = 6 |
 Last race = [[1976 United States Grand Prix West]] | 
}}
'''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 [[United States Automobile Club|USAC]] racer [[Parnelli Jones]] and his business partner [[Velko Miletich|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.

==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 Tire and Rubber Company|Firestone]]. After a brief foray into Formula One at the end of the {{F1|1974}} season, Vel's Parnelli Jones mounted a full campaign in {{F1|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 {{F1|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 [[1976 United States Grand Prix West|Long Beach Grand Prix]]. This led to some bad feeling between Andretti and Jones, and Andretti returned to [[Team Lotus|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 [[turbocharger|turbocharged]] version of [[Cosworth]]'s legendary [[Cosworth DFV|DFV]] [[V8 engine|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 Takeo "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/[[Champ Car|CART]] Championship between 1978 and 1987.

==IndyCar champions==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%"
! '''Year'''
! '''Champion'''
! '''Wins'''
! '''Chassis'''
! '''Engine'''
! '''Tires'''
|-
| [[1970 USAC Championship Car season|1970]]
| {{flagicon|USA}} [[Al Unser]]
| 10
| Colt,<br /> King
| [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]
| [[Firestone Tire and Rubber Company|Firestone]]
|-
| [[1971 USAC Championship Car season|1971]]
| {{flagicon|USA}} [[Joe Leonard]]
| 1
| [[Colt 70]],<br /> Colt 71
| Ford
| Firestone
|-
| [[1972 USAC Championship Car season|1972]]
| {{flagicon|USA}} Joe Leonard (2)
| 3
| [[Parnelli VPJ1]]
| [[Offenhauser]]
| Firestone
|}

==Indianapolis 500 victories==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%"
! '''Year'''
! '''Champion'''
! '''Chassis'''
! '''Engine'''
! '''Tires'''
|-
| [[1970 Indianapolis 500|1970]]
| {{flagicon|USA}} [[Al Unser]]
| [[Colt 70]]
| [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]
| [[Firestone Tire and Rubber Company|Firestone]]
|-
| [[1971 Indianapolis 500|1971]]
| {{flagicon|USA}} Al Unser (2)
| Colt 71
| Ford
| Firestone
|}

==Complete Formula One results==
<div style="overflow-x: auto; margin: 1em 0">
([[:Template:F1 driver results legend 5|key]])
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"
! Year
! Chassis
! Engine
! Tires
! Drivers
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
! 8
! 9
! 10
! 11
! 12
! 13
! 14
! 15
! 16
! Points
! WCC
|-
!rowspan="2"| {{F1|1974}}
|rowspan="2"| [[Parnelli VPJ4]]
|rowspan="2"| [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] [[Cosworth DFV]] [[V8 engine|V8]]
|rowspan="2"| {{Firestone}}
|
| [[1974 Argentine Grand Prix|ARG]]
| [[1974 Brazilian Grand Prix|BRA]]
| [[1974 South African Grand Prix|RSA]]
| [[1974 Spanish Grand Prix|ESP]]
| [[1974 Belgian Grand Prix|BEL]]
| [[1974 Monaco Grand Prix|MON]]
| [[1974 Swedish Grand Prix|SWE]]
| [[1974 Dutch Grand Prix|NED]]
| [[1974 French Grand Prix|FRA]]
| [[1974 British Grand Prix|GBR]]
| [[1974 German Grand Prix|GER]]
| [[1974 Austrian Grand Prix|AUT]]
| [[1974 Italian Grand Prix|ITA]]
| [[1974 Canadian Grand Prix|CAN]]
| [[1974 United States Grand Prix|USA]]
|
!rowspan="2"|0
!rowspan="2"|NC
|-
|align="left"| {{nowrap|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Mario Andretti]]}}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 7
|style="background:#000000; color:white"| DSQ
|
|-
!rowspan="2"| {{F1|1975}}
|rowspan="2"| [[Parnelli VPJ4]]
|rowspan="2"| [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] [[Cosworth DFV]] [[V8 engine|V8]]
|rowspan="2"| {{Firestone}}<br>{{Goodyear}}
|
| [[1975 Argentine Grand Prix|ARG]]
| [[1975 Brazilian Grand Prix|BRA]]
| [[1975 South African Grand Prix|RSA]]
| [[1975 Spanish Grand Prix|ESP]]
| [[1975 Monaco Grand Prix|MON]]
| [[1975 Belgian Grand Prix|BEL]]
| [[1975 Swedish Grand Prix|SWE]]
| [[1975 Dutch Grand Prix|NED]]
| [[1975 French Grand Prix|FRA]]
| [[1975 British Grand Prix|GBR]]
| [[1975 German Grand Prix|GER]]
| [[1975 Austrian Grand Prix|AUT]]
| [[1975 Italian Grand Prix|ITA]]
| [[1975 United States Grand Prix|USA]]
|
|
!rowspan="2"|5
!rowspan="2"|10th
|-
|align="left"| {{flagicon|USA}} [[Mario Andretti]]
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| Ret
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 7
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 17
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| {{F1 race position|Ret|f}}
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| Ret
|
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| 4
|
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| 5
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 12
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| 10
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| Ret
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| Ret
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| Ret
| 
|
|-
!rowspan="2"| {{F1|1976}}
|rowspan="2"| [[Parnelli VPJ4B]]
|rowspan="2"| [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] [[Cosworth DFV]] [[V8 engine|V8]]
|rowspan="2"| {{Goodyear}}
|
| [[1976 Brazilian Grand Prix|BRA]]
| [[1976 South African Grand Prix|RSA]]
| [[1976 United States Grand Prix West|USW]]
| [[1976 Spanish Grand Prix|ESP]]
| [[1976 Belgian Grand Prix|BEL]]
| [[1976 Monaco Grand Prix|MON]]
| [[1976 Swedish Grand Prix|SWE]]
| [[1976 French Grand Prix|FRA]]
| [[1976 British Grand Prix|GBR]]
| [[1976 German Grand Prix|GER]]
| [[1976 Austrian Grand Prix|AUT]]
| [[1976 Dutch Grand Prix|NED]]
| [[1976 Italian Grand Prix|ITA]]
| [[1976 Canadian Grand Prix|CAN]]
| [[1976 United States Grand Prix|USA]]
| [[1976 Japanese Grand Prix|JPN]]
!rowspan="2"|1
!rowspan="2"|13th
|-
|align="left"| {{flagicon|USA}} [[Mario Andretti]]
|
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| 6
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| Ret
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|}
</div>

===Non-Championship results===
([[:Template:F1 driver results legend 3|key]])
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"
|-
! Year
! Chassis
! Engine
! Driver
! 1
! 2
! 3
|-
! rowspan="2"| {{F1|1975}}
| rowspan="2"| [[Parnelli VPJ4]]
| rowspan="2"| [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] [[Cosworth DFV]] 3.0 [[V8 engine|V8]]
|
| [[1975 Race of Champions|ROC]]
| [[1975 BRDC International Trophy|INT]]
| [[1975 Swiss Grand Prix|SUI]]
|-
| align="left"| {{flagicon|USA}} [[Mario Andretti]]
|
| style="background:#FFDF9F;"| 3
|
|-
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}
* Lyons, P. 2007. ''Keeping up with the Jones''. '''Motor Sport'''. LXXXIII/1 (January 2007), 52-59

==External links==
*[http://vpjracing.com/ VPJ Racing Collection Website]

{{Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing in Formula One}}
{{Formula One constructors}}
{{American open-wheel car racing champions}}

[[Category:Formula One constructors|Parnelli]]
[[Category:Formula One entrants]]
[[Category:American auto racing teams]]
[[Category:American racecar constructors]]
[[Category:1969 establishments in the United States]]