Southern California businessman Vel Miletich and 1963 Indianapolis 500 Champion Parnelli Jones formed the Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing (VPJ) Team in 1969. The team drivers for the 1970 season included Al Unser Sr. and Joe Leonard. Unser qualified his Johnny Lightning Special on the pole position at the 1970 Indianapolis 500, and then led 191 laps out of the 200, only surrendering the lead during pit stops. Unser raced the car in four other races, winning three of them.

The VPJ team won their first USAC National Championship - a feat that the VPJ team accomplished from 1970-1972.

Robert (Bobby) William Unser joined the team in 1972. He was the brother of Al, Jerry Unser, and Louis Unser, the father of Robby Unser, and the uncle of Al Unser Jr. and Johnny Unser. Combined, the Unser family has been victorious at the Indianapolis 500 on nine occasions, with Bobby and Al Unser Sr. being the only set of brothers to win in the race's history. Bobby's career included 35 IndyCar Series victories, three Indianapolis 500 titles, and he won the 1968 and 1974 United States Automobile Club (USAC) national championships. He won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb overall title 10 times.

In 1972, Bobby Unser started working for Dan Gurney's All-American Racers team and would enjoy a very successful career with them through 1979. From 1979 to 1981, Unser raced in the CART series for Team Penske.

The Lightning MK1 was used by the Fletcher Racing team during the 1977 season and by the All-American Racers in 1978. During the 1977 season, it used an Offenhauser-Drake engine V8 and raced in eleven events. It is believed that Bob Fletcher's Cobre Tire team raced two Lightning cars during 1977, with one assigned to Bobby Unser. Pancho Carter crashed one of the cars during a test session at Phoenix in December.

With Cosworth DFX V8 power, one of the two cars raced during the 1978 season and into the 1979 season. The #55 car was assigned to Vern Schuppan in 1978 for Indy, and a year later it was raced by Steve Krisiloff - entered as the number 86 but raced at number 7. Krisiloff had 111 combined career starts in the USAC and CART Championship Car series, racing from 1969 through 1979, and then in 1981 and 1983. He participated in the Indianapolis 500 during those years in all but 1979 and 1970. His best finish was a 2nd place at Phoenix in 1978.

by Dan Vaughan