Gurney, Jones and Agajanian Names Are All Tied to the Success Both in IMSA and IndyCars
By Holly Cain
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Even for the team owners and drivers who competed in the earliest heyday of American auto racing, the numbers on the cars they drove came from an eclectic and sometimes random means of assignment.
Yet some of IMSA’s most treasured competition stories feature car numbers that not only elicit strong emotional response on the grid but share a wide range of inter-series connections from diverse grids around the world.
Certainly, the No. 98 is one of those numbers.
For former IMSA GTP star P.J. Jones, 52, who drove the Dan Gurney-owned No. 98 Toyota Eagle MkIII in the 1990s, that car number is as important to him now as it was then. Jones won the 1993 Rolex 24 At Daytona and held the great race’s qualifying record for an impressive 26 years – in the No. 98.
Jones and teammate Juan Manuel Fangio II – in Gurney’s No. 99 Toyota Eagle – dominated IMSA’s prototype class in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the All American Racers (AAR) team combining to win 26 races with its various Eagle GTP cars and back-to-back championships in the 1992-93 seasons.
“You go back and those are pretty awesome days, to have a teammate like Fangio and driving for a legend like Gurney,’’ said Jones, who still uses some form of the No. 98 on his own off-road racers or cars used by his racing sons, Jagger and Jace.
“It pretty much doesn’t get any better than that. And that was the beginning of my career,’’ Jones continued. “It was pretty cool. I think that was a special, special time. To have Gurney, a legend and so cool to work for, and I still love Fangio and talk to him pretty often.
“Obviously, I carry the (No.) 98 as much as I can. When my kids raced, they used 98. There’s a lot of significance there for the number with my family, with my dad (Parnelli Jones) and then success with the GTP program, which actually was a total fluke.
“Dan just had the numbers 98 and 99. I stepped in the seat and got to drive the 98.”
Gurney’s son Alex has nothing but fond memories of his late father’s numbers – both 99 and 98 – recalling his father’s days fielding cars with those numbers during a groundbreaking driving career in the 1960s to his role as team owner with that great IMSA GTP era.
“As far as race car numbers go, I don’t think there are any cooler numbers than the No. 99,’’ said Alex Gurney, who later himself used that half of his father’s famous IMSA pair of numbers competing in IMSA with Bob Stallings during the mid-2000s.
“I grew up going to the IMSA GTU, GTO and GTP races, and the AAR cars always had a 98 or 99 on the side. The incredible 1993 Eagle MkIII No. 99 GTP car sits proudly in our car museum at AAR. I see it every day and still love staring at it.
“When I finally got into sports car racing with Bob Stallings in 2005, we were allowed to choose our own number and there was no doubt in my mind which one (99) we would choose.’’
That’s the kind of family connection that legitimately created a number legacy.
Long before P.J. Jones climbed into Gurney’s No. 98, Jones’ father Parnelli had taken the number to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the number was emblazoned on the front of his red, white, and blue roadster nicknamed “Ol’ Calhoun” when he won the 1963 Indianapolis 500 from pole position.
Counting Troy Ruttman’s win in 1952, Dan Wheldon’s 2011 victory and Alexander Rossi’s 100th anniversary win in 2016 – the No. 98 has rolled into Indy 500 victory lane four times.
The late J.C. Agajanian secured the No. 98 and fielded both Ruttman and Jones’ Indy-winning cars. And the Agajanian family – along with Mike Curb – has continued to use that number with ownership stake in Wheldon’s and Rossi’s Indy winners.
“The 98 has been a part of our family since my grandfather adopted that number in 1948, the first time he brought a car back to the Indy 500,’’ said Josh Agajanian, J.C.’s grandson.
“Of course, his car won in 1952 with Troy Ruttman and then again with Parnelli Jones in 1963, where my father (Cary) was a crew member. My father and Mike Curb together have kept the tradition of the (No.) 98 car going with various teams over the years, winning again at Indy with Dan Wheldon in 2011 and once again with Alex Rossi in 2016.
“As long as I can remember, the No. 98 symbolized a great deal of pride for our family and has been a very special number to my father and his brothers.’’
Other close associates of the Agajanians have been more than willing to carry the number with them when possible. Former IndyCar driver Bryan Herta has teamed with the Curb-Agajanian partnership to field the No. 98 in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Parker Chase finished second in the series’ Touring Car (TCR) class last year in the No. 98 and is paired with Harry Gottsacker the No. 98 Hyundai Elantra N TCR this season.
It’s a number with a vast storied history and one that has found its way to victory lane many times.
“It was pretty cool to be able to have that number,’’ Jones said. “The 98 means a lot to me and a lot to others.’’