Jackie Pretorius

Jacobus "Jackie" Pretorius (1934 - 2009)

Brief overview:

Jackie (74), died in Sunninghill Hospital, Johannesburg, on 30 March 2009, He didn’t recover from severe injuries he sustained in a savage assault by intruders at his home in Glen Austin three weeks previously. He was in a coma for three weeks. He was attacked in his home early on Friday 6th March 2009, morning by burglars.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
  • He leaves a niece, Christine.
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Street/Suburb
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • In October 2003 he and his wife Shirley were viciously attacked by intruders in the same house and his wife subsequently died as a result of her injuries.

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
  • Early Friday morning, 6th March 2009
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction

Additional Biographical Information:

Jackie was a popular man and one of the most colourful characters in the long and distinguished history of South African motor racing, he was a regular at Historic race meetings and worked for many years for Wynns Oil. Jackie later also performed stunt driving, but had to give this up when he was badly injured after being hit by a stunt car.

Pretorius first came to prominence in 1964 when he drove Doug Serrurier’s LDS Alfa Mk 1 in the national Formula One championship, finishing fifth and sixth in the Republic Day Trophy at Kyalami and the Border 100 in East London. He unsuccessfully tried to qualify the car for the 1965 world championship South African Grand Prix in East London. The following year he finished ninth in the non-championship event in a Lotus Climax.

He competed in the national F1/F5000 championship in a Walls ice cream-backed F5000 Lola Ford, recording one of many memorable wins in a rain-soaked False Bay 100 at Killarney in Cape Town in August 1968, beating the F1 Repco Brabhams of Dave Charlton and Sam Tingle.

He graduated to a Brabham Climax BT11, which he drove in the 1968 SA GP under the Team Pretoria banner. He enjoyed his best F1 year in 1971 at the wheel of a Team Gunston Brabham BT26A, in which he competed in the SA GP and at the wheel of which he won rounds of the national F1/F5000 championship at Killarney in Cape Town and Pietermaritzburg’s Roy Hesketh circuits.

In 1973 he was invited by Frank Williams to stand in for the injured Nani Galli in a Williams Iso-Marlboro FX3B in the SA GP. He was forced to retire with overheating problems.

He also drove 2-litre and 5-litre sports cars with his great friend Doug Serrurier and together they won the 1967 Pietermaritzburg Three Hour race in a Lola. He also enjoyed success with overseas drivers Barry Smith and Guy Edwards in the Three Hour at Roy Hesketh.

Renowned for his good humour and his ability to enjoy a good party, he worked for 34 years for Wynn Oil, a staunch supporter of motor racing when Pretorius was at the height of his career.

Links to Media articles:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Pretorius
• http://archive.vn/Wwt2a
• https://web.archive.org/web/20090406053949/http://www.motorsport.co...
• http://archive.vn/AedL6

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Courtesy of GrandPrix.com - http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21319.html

Jackie Pretorius has died at the age of 74 from injuries received when intruders broke into his house in Glen Austin, a suburb of Johannesburg, three weeks ago. It was the second such attack on the Pretorius house. His wife Shirley died as a result of her injuries in a previous assault some years ago.

Born Jacobus Pretorius, he was a member of one of South Africa’s most famous families. A decendant of one of the earliest Dutch settlers., he was related to Andries Pretorius, who was instrumental in the creation of the Transvaal Republic and his son Martinus, who was the first president of the South African Republic and compiled the constitution and founded the city of Pretoria in honour of his father.

Jackie was born in the family seat at Potchefstroom, not far from Johannesburg in 1934 and grew up in very comfortable circumstances. He was a hellraiser from an early age and in his twenties he joined forces with Doug Serrurier, speedway champion Buddy Fuller and several others to form the Dunlop Hell Drivers Team, putting on shows of precision driving and staging deliberate crashes such as crashing through flaming barricades and jumping cars from ramp to ramp. These were not all very successful and in one such incident to suffered a broken pelvis and internal injuries aat s how that was held 40 miles from the nearest hospital. He decided that it would be best to turn to the safe world of motor racing and began his career in Formula Junior. He was soon in trouble again, ending one event with a mouthful of sand having been thrown from a cartwheeling Cooper. He then joined Serrurier's LDS-Alfa Romeo team and attempted to qualify one of the local cars in the South African GP at East London in 1965. That was not a success but he became a regular in the local F1 series, moving on to Aldo Scribante's Scuderia Scribante before returning to Serrurier's team in 1968 to race a Team Pretoria Brabham and soon won his first local F1 victory and finished second in the series that year but again failed to make it into the South African GP. He then added sports cars to his F1 activities, competing in the celebrated Springbok series across southern Africa. In 1971 he joined Team Gunston and raced a Brabham and was again runner-up in the South African F1 series. That year he qualified for the Grand Prix, but retired with mechanical trouble. During this period he was employed by Wynn Oil and in 1972 the team became Team Wynn’s and enjoyed more success wth a Brabham. His last effort in the F1 World Championship was in 1973 when he was invited by Frank Williams to drive an Iso Williams, standing in for the injured Nanni Galli. He qualified but retired from the race with an overheating engine.

At the end of the year, at the age of 39, he decided to retire from the sport. He remained with Wynn Oil until his retirement after 34 years with the company.