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 1963 edition of the famed race.
Jones was born on Aug. 12, 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 friend Billy Calder who provided the nickname “Parnellie” and painted on the door of his old car.
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