It is with great sadness that I report of the passing of Great Race legend Stanley Jones. Stan was a successful real estate developer in Southern California, but in Great Race circles he was an icon in his 1932 Ford roadster. Stan not only drove his roadster on more than 20 Great Races, he always drove it to the start before the event and home again after. There is no telling how many miles he had on that vehicle.
Stan never had much consistency in the way of navigators, competing with numerous children and grandchildren through the years, but it was a way for his family to spend time with him doing what he loved. In the early years of the Great Race, Stan actually did quite well in the competition, winning several daily stages and coming close a time or two to winning the entire event.
He was selected the Spirit of the Event winner after the 2003 Great Race, the ultimate honor on the event. When I participated in my first Great Race in 1994, the salty Stan Jones already had nine under his belt. He had not competed in the Great Race since 2007, but he visited his friends on last time in 2015 when the event stopped overnight in San Bernardino, near his hometown of Woodland Hills, Calif.
The photo above, with his hair going every which way, is one of my all-time favorites of Stan (thats his grandson Franklin Murphy in the navigators seat). Stan will be missed by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.
–Jeff Stumb
I know we all have “special and interesting” Stanley stories. He certainly was a great guy and you could always count on laughs when you were with him. He is a Great Race legend who will be missed. Prayers for strength and comfort for his family.
Stanley and I hit it off the first time we met, at the beginning of the 1998 Great Race. We were both driving 1932 cars — his a Ford, mine a Plymouth. He’d tell me I didn’t have enough cylinders; I’d tell him he didn’t have enough torque or good enough brakes. The banter persisted over the entire 5 Great Races in which I was blessed to participate with him. If anyone ever broke down, they could count on a helping hand from Stanley. He was a great competitor and a wonderful human being.
I will miss you, Stan. Rest in peace, my friend.
I met Stan at the La Carrera Panamericana aka the Mexican road race, what a guy, what a jokester, what a mechanic, etc. etc. by the end of the race everyone knew Stan and wanted to hang out with him. I’m still laughing and retelling jokes he told me twenty some years ago.
Jones racing in Mexico with navigator Mark Dees Pres 200 mph club
https://youtu.be/9nRtcAt4Eec