According to a representative with Borg-Warner who was close to the situation, Jones passed away peacefully of natural causes in the presence of family members at Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrence, California. He was the oldest living winner of the Indianapolis 500, having achieved the ultimate success in the 1963 edition of the famed race. Jones was born on 12 August 1933, in Texarkana, Arkansas, with his mother naming him after a local judge – Rufus Parnell – whom she had greatly respected.
At the age of 17, he was racing jalopies in Gardena, California, the town next to Torrence that Jones moved to 10 years prior, and needed an alias to prevent race officials from learning he was not 18, which was the legal age to compete. While he was able to lie about his age, it was his friend Billy Calder who provided the nickname “Parnellie” and painted on the door of his old car. There were several different racing classes Jones competed in to hone his skillset during the 1950s, including NASCAR’s late model series on the West Coast that resulted in 15 wins.
In 1960, he was able to capture a Sprint Car title in the Midwest region, which stood as his first major championship. And that happened to catch the eye of J.C.
Agajanian. Everything led to a trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1961, where Jones became the 1961 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, an honour shared with Bobby Marshman. He led 27 laps and finished 12 th after qualifying fifth.
Jones returned th.
