Or was it the other way around? Small matter. Rufus Parnell “Parnelli” Jones was not what you wanted in your mirrors during the early ’60s, no matter how brave you were. The car was “Calhoun,” an A.J. Watson beauty that was the epitome of Indy roadsters and all they represented during that time – roadsters never got better: a shape that made schoolboys drool, lots of chrome, Dean Jeffries’ pinstripping and ladder-frames with the torsional rigidity of wet lettuce. In 1960, I was fortunate to see Watson roadsters in the hands of Roger Ward and Jim Rathmann going mano-a-mano in the closing laps of the 500. From my seat on the back straight I could SEE white cord showing through the rubber of both cars’ right front tires. Rathmann bettered his qualifying speed and on lap 197, I recall Ward decided he HAD to pit – chilling!
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