P. J. Jones
Jones' No. 27 ARCA Racing Series car at Road America in 2017
Born	Parnell Velko Jones (1969-04-23) April 23, 1969 (age 55) Torrance, California, U.S.
Achievements	1993 24 Hours of Daytona winner
NASCAR Cup Series career
33 races run over 13 years
2011 position	80th
Best finish	42nd (1993)
First race	1993 Save Mart Supermarkets 300K (Sears Point)
Last race	2011 Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 2 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
32 races run over 6 years
2017 position	114th
Best finish	38th (2000)
First race	2000 NAPA Auto Parts 300 (Daytona)
Last race	2008 Zippo 200 (Watkins Glen)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
18 races run over 4 years
2008 position	72nd
Best finish	17th (1995)
First race	1995 Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic (Phoenix)
Last race	2008 Sam's Town 400 (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 4 0
IndyCar Series career
2 races run over 2 years
Best finish	33rd (2006)
First race	2004 Indianapolis 500 (Indy)
Last race	2006 Indianapolis 500 (Indy)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 0 0
Champ Car career
58 races run over 4 years
Best finish	17th (1999)
First race	1996 Miller Genuine Draft 200 (Milwaukee)
Last race	1999 Marlboro 500 (California)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 1 0
Statistics current as of June 20, 2013.

Parnell Velko "P. J." Jones^[1] (born April 23, 1969)^[2] is an American professional racing driver. He has contested in multiple disciplines, including NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA GT Championship, the American Le Mans Series, USAC, the Chili Bowl, and the Stadium Super Trucks.

Jones was runner-up at the GTP class of the IMSA GT Championship in 1993 and fourth in 1992. He also finished fourth at the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series race at Watkins Glen, and second at the 1999 CART race at Nazareth. His father is Indianapolis 500 winner Parnelli Jones, his brother is Page Jones, a former racing driver, and one of his sons, Jagger Jones, currently races in the ARCA Menards Series West.

Jones' preliminary efforts in racing were focused on go-karting. Upon graduation from his introductory-level competitions, Jones began to enter the oval races at Ascot Park, much as his father did decades prior. Accumulating experience and accolades, Jones would progress vertically to United States Auto Club-sanctioned events. From numerous choices within USAC's open-wheel divisions, Jones opted to participate in the West Coast Midget category in 1986, earning the rookie of the year title in that class.^[1]

As Jones continued to compete in USAC, he began to dabble in IMSA GT. At this stage, Jones was participating in the GTO and GTU classes with Clayton-Cunningham Racing and their stable of Mazda RX-7 vehicles. A partial season in both GTO and GTU left Jones just fourteenth and twenty-seventh in the respective standings.^[3] Despite low rankings, 1988 was highlighted by a podium finish in one of the GTU races, and a victory in a world championship sprint car race in Auckland.^[4]

Before the end of the decade, Jones switched to the American Racing Series with its turbocharged Buick formula cars. Jones triumphed on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course^[5] as he scored a victory to crown the season, which would culminate in a sixth-place final classification. In the same year, Jones was suspended for thirty days from USAC competition after deliberately colliding with a competitor's vehicle.^[6]

Jones returned to the American Racing Series in 1990. Though with the same team, and utilizing the same March/Buick package, Jones failed to score a single race victory. Jones also had an unsuccessful foray into what is now NASCAR's K&N Pro Series West^[7] and a handful of forgettable trials at the wheel of a Ford Ranger in SCCA's Racetruck Challenge.

His 1991 season began in GTP, running the 24 Hours of Daytona for Dan Gurney and his All American Racers squad, which fielded a Toyota-powered Eagle HF90 in the race, but his focus remained on the American Racing Series. Jones scored two victories in twelve races, both on street circuits in Toronto and Denver, on route to a third place finish in the standings.^[8] Prior to the year's end, Jones participated in an ice race.^[9]

In 1992, Jones became a full-fledged professional racing driver, now joining Gurney's team for a full season's run in IMSA GTP piloting the brand-new Eagle MkIII. As a rookie in prototype racing, Jones finished fourth in points with two wins, although he was outclassed by his more experienced teammate, Juan Manuel Fangio II, who took the series title.^[10] All American Racers retained Jones for 1993 and swept the championship and vice-championship positions in IMSA's GTP category with P.J. trailing Fangio.^[11] Jones capitalized on his second year of GTP experience by winning the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona along co-drivers Mark Dismore and Rocky Moran. Later in the season, Jones rewrote the track record of Lime Rock Park with a lap of 43.112 seconds, which stands as of 2024 as the fastest lap ever recorded at the track.

Always willing to broaden his résumé, Jones participated in NASCAR Winston Cup action when such events did not conflict with his sports car exploits. While limited in stock car experience, Jones was able to qualify for six of the eleven races he entered, collecting a top ten finish at historic Watkins Glen International in the No. 9 Ford for Melling Racing.^[12] Jones also contested the Chili Bowl in 1993 and many other midget races in 1994, often with his brother Page.^[13] In the USAC Silver Crown Series event on the IRP facility, P.J. would score a respectable second-place finish behind Mike Bliss, then the dominant driver on that particular circuit, after starting from the pole position.

At that point, Jones was at a crossroads between stock cars and his childhood dream of open wheel racing, having unofficially tested a CART engine for Toyota and Dan Gurney. After getting his first stock car win in a Winston West series event at Phoenix International Raceway,^[14] Jones joined the newly stablished NASCAR SuperTruck division, which was set to begin in 1995, contesting the exhibition races in 1994 and 1995. Racing seven times for Scoop Vessels, Jones picked up two victories (in Mesa Marin and again in Phoenix) which were underscored by a further pair of second-place finishes and another two third-place results. His seventh race ended outside of the top ten.^[15] After his good performances, Jones secured the ride for 1995, as the original driver (his brother, Page) was recovering from injuries sustained in a midget crash. In official Truck Series running, Jones was less successful, scoring just two top ten finishes in thirteenth starts. After being released from the team, Jones switched gears again.

With the Toyota engine now an official entrant in CART for 1996, Jones was hired as a driver for the All American Racers team and its Eagle MK-V Champ Car for an abbreviated season that would begin on the Milwaukee Mile. In his second CART race, Jones finished ninth at the Belle Isle street course, with the first points ever scored by a Toyota-powered car in CART competition. Jones continued with this program through 1998; success was largely nonexistent, and would only score points at three other races.

In 1999, Jones switched to the Patrick Racing team, abandoning one motorsport legend in Gurney to join another in Pat Patrick. With better equipment at his disposal, Jones had four consecutive points-scoring finishes from Long Beach to Gateway, including a career-best runner-up result on the Nazareth Speedway, in a year that saw two other top ten classifications in Toronto and Chicago's races.^[16]

As with Scott Pruett and Robby Gordon, Jones decided to leave open-wheel racing and make a full-time switch to NASCAR. Unlike the other two former CART competitors, Jones would focus on the Busch Series rather than the premier Cup division, where he would enter just two races. One of those was a relief driver for Gordon, who was participating in the rain-delayed 2000 Indianapolis 500 while the Coca-Cola 600 commenced with Jones in the cockpit of the No. 13 Burger King Ford.

Jones' season started with BACE Motorsports, a team which had won three Busch Series titles from 1995 to 1997, in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. It was not to be a championship effort, however; with no results better than the twenty-fourth spot by the end of seven races, Jones was relieved of his driving duties. David Ridling was impressed with Jones, and signed him right away to drive his No. 19, bettering his performances to include a seventeenth-place run on Loudon's Magic Mile and a top ten in the Watkins Glen event, a race Jones believed he and the team "should have won". Jones would return to Watkins Glen in August for the second of his two Winston Cup races; he was quietly twenty-first for Felix Sabates and SABCO Racing as a substitute driver for Ted Musgrave, himself a replacement to the late Kenny Irwin Jr., against whom Jones had raced in USAC.

After rumors circulated about Jones joining a newly formed Galaxy Motorsports and Robert Yates Racing conglomerate for the next season,^[17] Jones remained in the Busch Series and signed with Phoenix Racing. Qualifying third for the season-starting Daytona race and scoring a best result of seventeenth on the Atlanta Motor Speedway's oval, Jones was ousted for Jimmy Spencer, significant in that Spencer would later succeed him at both Ultra Motorsports and the Arnold Development team.

After 2001's disappointment, Jones spent 2002 in a variety of series, including the USAC Silver Crown Series where he had found success earlier in his career. Jones parlayed this into a chance to run the Indianapolis 500-mile race with Team Menard; it was to be his Indy Racing League debut and return to top-level North American open-wheel racing in a competitive mount, but misfortune struck when he suffered a neck injury in a crash during May's practice runs and was ruled out for the rest of the month; his replacement, Raul Boesel, placed the car on the front row. The Menards chain would also sponsor him later in the year for a Busch Series race at Phoenix.

Between these events, A. J. Foyt selected Jones to drive the No. 14 Conseco Pontiac in NASCAR Winston Cup competition at the Brickyard 400, where he failed to qualify, and at the SIRIUS Satellite Radio at the Glen, where he earned his best ever result in the series with a fourth place finish. Jones would be invited to return to the Foyt team in 2003, this time for the Dodge/Save Mart 350 to be held on the Sonoma Raceway. For the second time in three attempts with Foyt, Jones failed to qualify for the race, frustrating Foyt to the point that Jones would not be welcomed back to defend his top five from 2002. Instead, Jones would race a Pontiac Grand Prix for Morgan-McClure Motorsports, finishing in an unremarkable 24th place.^[18]

Jones made his Craftsman Truck Series return at the 2003 season-closer at Homestead-Miami Speedway and scored a top ten finish for Jim Smith, who brought him back for the Fontana and Phoenix races in 2004, scoring another top ten in the latter.^[19] In May 2004, Jones was finally able to make his debut in the Indianapolis 500, a race his father won in 1963. The rain-shortened race was reduced in length for all competitors, but even more so for Jones, who crashed.^[20] During the year, Jones also drove five NASCAR Nextel Cup races in Don Arnold's Dodge;^[21][22] further starts came in 2005 for MACH 1 Motorsports, failing to qualify for ten races in fourteen attempts, and the Morgan-McClure ride for the road courses, where he struggled mightily.^[23]

Jones made his Craftsman Truck Series return at the 2003 season-closer at Homestead-Miami Speedway and scored a top ten finish for Jim Smith, who brought him back for the Fontana and Phoenix races in 2004, scoring another top ten in the latter.^[19] In May 2004, Jones was finally able to make his debut in the Indianapolis 500, a race his father won in 1963. The rain-shortened race was reduced in length for all competitors, but even more so for Jones, who crashed.^[20] During the year, Jones also drove five NASCAR Nextel Cup races in Don Arnold's Dodge;^[21][22] further starts came in 2005 for MACH 1 Motorsports, failing to qualify for ten races in fourteen attempts, and the Morgan-McClure ride for the road courses, where he struggled mightily.^[23]

2006 began in May for Jones, once again in the Indianapolis 500. Beck Motorsports hired Jones to pilot the No. 98 CURB Records entry, identical in sponsor and number to the 2004 special Jones had driven. Running a Panoz chassis, widely regarded as inferior to the Dallara which populated a greater portion of the field, Jones lacked pace and only managed to qualify on the final row. However, a nineteenth-place result was salvaged.^[24] The next stop on the Jones racing calendar was Sonoma, now becoming a tradition with Jones characterized in NASCAR as a road course ringer. Jones did not see the race out to its completion in his Morgan-McClure Chevrolet due to rear end failure, and would not return to the NEXTEL Cup Series that season. Instead, he retreated to the Busch division, between Mike Curb's team and a single start for Johnny Davis Motorsports in Watkins Glen.^[25]

As NASCAR Busch Series left the United States for the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in 2007, Richard Childress Racing brought Jones with their team for the road course event^[26] Later on, he failed to qualify for the 2007 Indianapolis 500. His No. 40 car had been painted to resemble the one his father used in the 1967 Indianapolis 500 forty years prior. That year, Jones drove the NASCAR road course races with Michael Waltrip Racing's Toyota for a twelfth place finish at Sonoma, and subbed in the Pennsylvania 500 for Robby Gordon Motorsports after the driver for which the team was named was suspended for actions detrimental to stock car racing.

Jones made his final Nationwide and Truck starts in 2008, and remained as a road course ringer in Sprint Cup competition, driving for Robby Gordon Motorsports in that capacity between 2009 and 2011 in a start-and-park entry.^[27]

His focus in 2011 had not been the Cup side, though. Rocketsports Racing hired Jones to race with Rocky Moran Jr. in their factory Jaguar XKR GT program in the American Le Mans Series. The car's performance was woeful, and no points were scored, even in rounds where fewer than ten cars had entered, as the car often failed to complete 70% of the class winner's distance due to chronic mechanical issues. Despite Moran's indications that the two would be paired again in 2012, Rocketsports and Jaguar disbanded the team and moved to the LMPC class without either driver.

Jones joined the General Tire Trophylite Race Series off-road truck division for 2012, finding a place to utilize his Baja 1000 experience. In Henderson, Nevada, Jones was victorious.^[28]

The 2013 season began at the Chili Bowl midget car race for Jones. He won the seventh heat race on opening night^[29] in his RFMS Racing entry. By the week's end, he had been eliminated from contention, and did not feature in the main event. Later in the year, he finished fourth in the inaugural Stadium Super Trucks race at University of Phoenix Stadium.^[30] He continued to race in SST that season, resulting fourth in the standings with a win at Las Vegas.^[31]

Jones continued racing in the Stadium Super Trucks—albeit on a part-time basis—from 2014 to 2017. He scored race wins at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in 2014,^[32] the OC Fair & Event Center's Sand Sports Super Show in 2015,^[33] and Texas Motor Speedway in 2017.^[34]

In 2017, Jones returned to NASCAR, racing in the Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International in Chris Cockrum Racing's No. 25 car.^[35]

Jones was a proficient ice hockey player, scoring ninety-eight goals (coincidentally, Jones often wears this number when racing) in thirty games when he was just short of one decade old and playing peewee hockey in California. He and his team were state champions that year. Any ideas of a professional career in Jones' other sport were hindered by a surgery six years after the championship; following another two years of play, Jones ceased participation in ice hockey of all kinds.^[4]

In his late teens and early twenties, Jones enrolled in several courses at El Camino College.^[1] While there, he studied various subsets in the overarching field of business education.

Jones has an interest in aircraft. His biography in CART media materials often indicated that Jones was an avid flyer, holding a pilot's license at the time. As far as religion, Jones is irreligious.^[36]

With predominantly vehicular passions, Jones shares his love of motors to customers through PJ's Performance, which specializes in UTVs.^[37] This venture has kept Jones busy even as his entries to auto races dwindle in quantity.

Married to Jolaina, Jones is the father of Jagger and Jace Jones. His residence has been established in Scottsdale, Arizona.^[38]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

(key) (Bold – Pole position. Italics – Fastest qualifier. * – Most laps led.)

• P. J. Jones driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• P. J. Jones career summary at DriverDB.com