Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: P.J. Jones, Parnelli’s son, relieved to be in Indy 500

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 | 9:31 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

When P.J. Jones finally qualified last Sunday for his first Indianapolis 500, his father, Parnelli Jones, was overcome with tears of joy.

P.J. had a slightly different response.

"For me, it was more of a relief just to finally get in the race," he said. "Just getting in the race ... there's so much pressure -- even though everyone can say, 'oh, well, you know the field may not be filled or they're going to be right at 33 cars.' There is still a lot of pressure."

Once he was safely in the field for Sunday's Indy 500, Jones was able to reflect on the uniqueness of his situation. Jones, 35, will pilot Greg Beck's Dallara/Chevrolet that will carry the same number (98), sponsor (Curb Records) and paint scheme as the car Parnelli Jones drove when he won the 1963 Indy 500 from the pole.

To take the second-generation ties one step further, Cary Agajanian, a partner in Beck's team, is the son of J.C. Agajanian, who owned the car Parnelli drove in six Indy 500s.

"This is a pretty cool opportunity," the younger Jones said. "Not very many second-generation drivers could say that I'm driving for the same man that my dad drove for, for the same family.

"Having the opportunity to paint the car the way my dad's was and the opportunity to have the same number doesn't all fall into sync very often for somebody, so this is just a great opportunity. It's pretty cool."

Jones will start Sunday's 88th Indianapolis 500 from the inside of the 11th row.

Actually, according to Vasser, it was Tracy who ran into Vasser in the final turn of the race as Vasser was trying to overtake Tracy for seventh place. The contact prevented Vasser from finishing the race and cost him a top-10 finish.

"PT completely screwed up," Vasser said of Tracy. "Last lap, last turn; he just can't give it up. He should be the one out, not me."

Vasser finished in 12th place as a result of the incident while Tracy continued and finished seventh.

Schumacher had finished in the points in 18 consecutive races before he was forced to retire 42 laps into Sunday's race.

Jaskol, 19, is the only one of four winners of the Red Bull Driver Search who will be racing in the United States this season. Fellow RBDS winner Dominique Claessens, Colin Fleming and Scott Speed are competing in the Formula Renault Eurocup in Europe.

"I think I got the better deal, really," Jaskol said. "I can stay in front of racing people here in the States and I get to keep living in Las Vegas and keep eating my own food.

"Obviously, it's a goal of mine to get over (to Europe) and race, but this is a great opportunity for me. It's so important to take the right steps career wise and Red Bull really looked out for me and my career; they made sure I was going to be comfortable where they placed me."

The inaugural Formula BMW USA season consists of 14 races, held on seven race weekends, and will be sanctioned by Champ Car. The season finale will be held in conjunction with the Champ Car race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in September.

The goal of the Red Bull Driver Search program is to identify young drivers and put them on a path that eventually could lead to the Formula One World Championship.