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The winning Parnelli Jones 1976 off-road championship Class 8 race truck has made the cross-country journey from the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame (ORMHOF) in Jean, Nevada, to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The truck has strong ties to MSHFA, having been driven by three off-road legends who are also Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductees: Parnelli Jones, Rick Mears, and Walker Evans. Jones and Evans are also inductees in the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.
"This loan was made possible by our Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame partners, members, and donors," said ORMHOF chairman Mark McMilllin, "The Parnelli Jones truck will expose a new audience to the sport of off-road while it is on display at Daytona International Speedway."
The truck was custom built in 1975 by Parnelli Jones Racing with support from Chevrolet Special Vehicles Division. Feature specs include a high horsepower, small block Chevrolet engine, B&M turbo 400 automatic transmission, and BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A tires mounted on aluminum wheels. Many aircraft quality materials and assembly techniques were used in the build, which resulted in a truck that was lighter and faster than most trucks of that era.
Dominating Class 8 off-road competition in 1975 and 1976, the revolutionary truck won many prestigious races, including the Parker 400, Baja 500, Mint 400, and Baja 1000. It was so successful in Class 8 that it was moved to the Open class, where it continued to win, defeating the highly competitive lightweight two-seat race vehicles and was crowned the SCORE Overall Class 2 Points Champion.
Parnelli Jones donated the truck to ORMHOF in 2011. Left in historically accurate original race condition, the truck offers a window in time back to the glory days of off-road racing, when the heavy metal stock factory trucks began their transformation into the lightweight fully custom desert trucks of today.
The truck will remain on loan from the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida until summer of 2019. For museum hours, admission pricing, and tour information, visit
www.mshf.com.
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