Everytime I see the Parnelli I remember this story ....
“So 1976 comes along and I’m on the grid at Long Beach, third race of the season, and Chris Economaki puts a mike to me just before the off and says, ‘Mario, how does it feel starting your last F1 race? Vel Miletich just told me he’s pulling the plug on F1 to concentrate on Champ Cars.’
“No-one had said anything to me. I felt real stupid. I was so upset I almost didn’t put the thing in gear. After the race I didn’t even want to talk to them, I just went back to my hotel. Next morning I’m having breakfast all by myself, and Colin’s having breakfast two tables away, all by himself. He’s just had the worst weekend: one of his cars qualified last, and crashed out on the first lap, the other didn’t qualify at all. We look at each other, my chin’s in my socks, he’s even more miserable, and he comes over to join me. So the wheels start rollin’, and he says, ‘Drive for me, Mario.’ I said, ‘But you got a car that may just be slightly quicker than a London bus. We got some work to do here.’ We shook on that. I felt a horizon opening out. I knew Colin could make me World Champion.