¦ April 15, 2010
A GREAT TIME AT THE PARNELLI JONES MUSEUM
Fundraiser for the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation

 On April 13, 2010 forty friends of the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation attended an exclusive evening with Parnelli Jones at his personal racing museum, with proceeds benefiting SSPF.  Parnelli personally provided guided tours of his wonderful private collection of cars and racing memorabilia from his years as a driver and team owner.  Each guest had their photograph taken with Parnelli and the car #98 in which he won the 1963 Indianapolis 500. 

Guests were mesmerized by the stories Parnelli told about each of the cars and racing memorabilia in the museum.  One of our guests, whose mother had sewed upholstery for dragster builder & racer Tony Nance in the 1960’s, was thrilled to see a painting which had been signed by Nance only 6 months before he died.  Parnelli said the painting had come out of the Ontario Speedway before it was torn down.

A special guest of the evening was Dario Franchitti.  Parnelli invited him to sit in the green & yellow Lotus #82 that in 1965 had carried fellow Scot Jimmy Clark to a historic win at the Indianapolis 500 and his image placed on the coveted Borg Warner trophy.  It was the first win for a rear-engined car, and no front-engined car has won the race since.  Clark died in a car crash at the age of 32.  His Lotus #82 is housed in its original condition at the Parnelli Museum.  Having idolized Jimmy Clark since childhood, Dario spent several minutes that evening sitting motionless in the car, lost in thought.  We can only guess that he was remembering his childhood hero and visualizing what it would have been like to drive the Lotus #82.
 
Another highlight of the evening came when members of PSI Upsilon of Pepperdine University presented Sam with a check for the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation.  Sam is a founding member of the Lambda Omega Sigma fraternity, which has since merged with national Psi Upsilon.  Bobby Trentacosta, Chris Franco and Jeff Hamilton were excited to personally meet Sam, who remains active in the Pepperdine alumni organization as a Psi Upsilon brother.

There was very competitive bidding on auction items including a dream Las Vegas vacation package with golf at the exclusive South Shore golf club, passes at Pole Position Raceway for a karting adventure, and the winner's choice of five laps around the Las Vegas Speedway in a 540 Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette Z06 or Audi R8, donated by Exotic Racing, and a Mario Andretti scale model racecar by Carousel.
 
The guests also visited with Indy car driver Townsend Bell who will compete in this year's Indianapolis 500 for Sam Schmidt Motorsports/Chip Ganassi Racing.  Bell finished 4th in the 2009 Indy 500 and those in the know have high hopes for Bell this year.  One of Sam's current drivers in the Firestone Indy Lights Series, 2-time winner J.K. Vernay was also there to greet guests and answer questions.

The Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation would like to thank Parnelli Jones and all our guests who took advantage of this opportunity to help support the Foundation while enjoying a very special evening.