Jackie Pretorius

A colourful personality and driving talent made Jacobus ‘Jackie’ Pretorius a popular figure in South African motor racing and he was a member of a stunt driving team before switching to racing. He went on to compete in the South African F1 series and entered four World Championship Grands Prix, debuting in 1965. He was part of one of the most famous families in South Africa as they were direct descendants of Andries Pretorius, who was one of the earliest Dutch settlers and helped found Transvaal Republic. Andries’ son, Martinus, went on to become the first president of the South African Republic, plus helped write the Constitution and also founded the city of Pretoria in honour of his father.

Born in Potchefstroom, near Johannesburg, on the 22nd November 1934, Jackie’s early racing involved stock cars in 1957 but a friendship with Doug Serrurier led to him touring with him, speedway champion Buddy Fuller and several others, in a Hell Drivers stunt team. Doug himself had been active in speedway before this and raced in Liverpool, England and he later teamed up with Buddy Fuller and Dick Campbell to start stock car racing at Wembley. Their Thrills Incor­porated team proved very successful and after finishing with speedway racing, he and Fuller formed the Dunlop Hell Drivers stunt team. They performed at agricultural shows and other venues, day in and night out, putting on shows of precision driving and staging deliberate crashes, plus crashing through flaming barricades and jumping cars from ramp to ramp. However, Jackie’s wife Shirley said they were chased out of one town by townsfolk who claimed they were children of the Devil but he was also badly injured on another occasion when he was hit by a car while working on a ramp. Recalling the incident, Doug told how “we started off at Nelspruit with our first show and Jackie and another chap named Hills, whom we had cast as clowns in the act, were sweeping the ramp used for our car-jumping stunt. Despite warnings on the PA, Pretorius went on with his sweeping, oblivious to the fact that a car was careering up the ramp behind him. At the critical moment, he slipped, the car hit him up the backside and he ended up in Barberton Hospital.”

Switching to motor racing, he contested Formula Junior with a Cooper in the early 1960s but at one race ended up with a mouthful of sand after being thrown from his cartwheeling car, though fortunately never suffered any serious injuries. During this period, Doug Serrurier was building his own mid-engined LDS specials (the name derived from Louis Douglas Serrurier) and Jackie began working for him as a racing mechanic. Doug freely admitted they were based on Coopers and Brabhams, stating “Why go to the trouble of reinventing the wheel when a suc­cessful set-up is staring you in the face?.” He did however incorporate his own detail improvements and they received praise for the quality of workmanship, utilising space-frame chassis and featured perfect welding. On an early occasion when Jackie was allowed to drive a car in practise for an event he told how “the steering column broke and I, um…wrote the car off. Doug said It wasn’t serious’.” Doug himself recalled “I said to Jackie Pretorius, who used to help me back then, that he could have the use of my older-type LDS if he put it together. But a mistake which he and his crew made when assembling the steering box had him off the road upside down at Grand Central. And although he was only slightly hurt, the car was a write-off.”

After acquiring a Climax powered LDS-1 he competed in South African F1 races in 1964, finishing fifth in the South African Public Festival Trophy at Kyalami though retired at Roy Hesketh and from two non championship races at Lourenco Marques and the Rhodesian GP at Kumalo. Between these races, he had one outing with an Alfa-Romeo powered LDS-2 at the Border 100 at East London and finished sixth. Although he entered December’s non-championship Rand GP at Kyalami, his car was unable to start due to a mechanical failure after practice. Less than a month later, at the start of January Jackie entered 1965’s South African GP at East London but failed to pre-qualify. He continued with the LDS1 and results that year included fourth at the Coronation 100 and the Royal Show Trophy (both at Roy Hesketh), fifth in the Van Riebeck Trophy at Killarney plus seventh in both the Rand Autumn Trophy and Rand Spring Trophy events at Kyalami. Non championship races saw fifth at the Salisbury GP at Marlborough, seventh at the Rhodesian GP at Kumalo and eleventh at Lourenco Marques and he retired at Killarney, East London and Kyalami. In his final race that season he drove Scuderia Scribante’s Lotus 21-Climax at Kyalami’s Rand GP though retired due to overheating.

Scuderia Scribante ran two Lotus 21s in 1966 and Jackie signed to race alongside Dave Charlton. He finished ninth in the first race, at East London’s South African GP in January then was seventh in the Cape South Easter Trophy at Killarney. Following this he had three fifth place finishes at Kyalami’s Rand Autumn Trophy and the South African Republic Festival Trophy plus the Bulawayo 100 at Kumalo. There were retirements at Kyalami, Killarney and Roy Hesketh while his best results came with second place (to Sam Tingle) at East London’s Border 100 plus third place finishes at the Natal Winter Trophy at Roy Hesketh and the Rand Spring Trophy in October at Kyalami. In his final outing that year in December he came fourth in the Rhodesian GP and finished seventh in the championship.

Continuing with Scribante for 1967, he was fourth in his first race with the Lotus 21 at the Cape South Easter Trophy at Killarney then was fifth in the Rand Autumn Trophy at Kyalami, where he ran in an LDS-2. He was back with the 21 for the remaining races and strong drives saw third in March at Roy Hesketh’s Coronation 100 then second (to Sam Tingle) in the following month’s National Trophy at Killarney. His final single seater outings saw fourth at the Natal Winter Trophy at Roy Hesketh plus third and fourth in the non-championship Governador Generale de Mozambique at Lourenco Marques and the Bulawayo 100 at Kumalo and he was classed fifth in the championship. Jackie teamed with Doug Serrurier in a Lola T70 for sports car events during the year and the first of four races came at Kyalami in November. The race saw the debut of the famous white Walls ice cream livery, featuring a ‘Stop me and buy one’ slogan across the rear of the car but despite leading in the early laps they retired with piston failure. The sponsorship had been arranged by Doug’s good friend Pat Coles, and it remained a colourful feature of local racing for many years. Though there was a retirement at Lourenco Marques due to overheating, they were were third at Cape Town and then won at the Roy Hesketh 3 Hours on Boxing Day. The pair had chased Paul Hawkins’ Lola, which was leaking oil, and Doug recalled how “They black-flagged him but his mechanic convinced the officials that it was just blowing off excess oil, so they let him carry on. Our car was black with the stuff, my goggles were covered in it-and I didn’t have tear-offs..We were slipping and sliding all over the place. Then Jackie took over and he kept bumping Hawkins up the back…he didn’t care, it was my car!” However, Hawkins eventually slowed which let Jackie through to win.

Switching to a Team Pretoria Brabham-Repco BT11, he was not classified at 1968’s South African GP at Kyalami though was fourth with the team’s Lola T140 in the non-championship Bulawayo 100 in early May. Jackie would go on to have a strong season with the Serrurier prepared Lola and several days later saw the first round of the South African F1 championship and he placed second (to Jean Pierre Beltoise’s Matra MS7) at the Cape South Easter Trophy at Killarney with the BT11. He was in the Lola at the next round in March and came home third at the Rand Autumn Trophy at Kyalami. Continuing with the T140 for the season, he was second at the Coronation 100 at Roy Hesketh in April then June saw fourth at the Republic Trophy at Kyalami plus third at Roy Hesketh’s Natal Winter Trophy. He was second at East London’s Border 100 then in two rounds in August he was fifth at the Rand Winter Trophy at Kyalami and took victory at a rain-soaked False Bay 100 at Kil­lar­ney in Cape Town, beat­ing the F1 Repco Brab­hams of Dave Charl­ton and Sam Tin­gle. He retired due to mechanical problems at Kyalami in October and did not race at the final round at Kumalo and was classed second in the championship, by 13 points, to John Love. Unfortunately, sports car drives with a Lola T70 were not as successful this year and he and Doug Serrurier only had an eleventh place finish at the 9 Hour Kyalami and retired at Cape Town, Lourenco Marques and Roy Hesketh. However, he and Doug were nam­ed joint winners of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Motor Sportsman of the Year Award.

Contesting 1969’s national F1 championship with a Lola, Jackie suffered retirements at Kumalo and two rounds each at Roy Hesketh and Kyalami though May saw a victory at Kyalami’s Republic Day Trophy. His other results included second at Killarney’s False Bay 100, two fourths at the Cape South Easter Trophy at Killarney plus the Border 100 at East London then fifth at the Rand Autumn Trophy at Kyalami. The year proved to be another frustrating one in sports cars as he and Doug only finished one event. Mechanical issues ended their drive at East London and after qualifying seventh in a field of 32 starters at August’s Kyalami 9 Hours, they were leading but a fire ended their race. Engine problems prevented them from starting at Cape Town and though their next outing produced fourth at Lourenco Marques they did not start the final race at Roy Hesketh due to an accident in practice.

Jackie missed 1970’s opening race though drove the Lola T140 at the second round and was fifth at the Highveld 100 at Kyalami. The following races saw a switch to a Surtees TS5 but there would be mixed fortunes and he retired at Roy Hesketh and Kyalami due to oil pressure problems then a spin due to a water hose but he was third at the Bulawayo 100. In the following rounds he was sixth at the Rand Winter Trophy at Kyalami and second at Killarney’s False Bay 100 though there were further retirements due to mechanical issues at Roy Hesketh and the Rhodesian GP. He did not start in the final round at Kyalami and was classed fifth in the championship. In one sports car outing he co-drove Avalon Racing’s Lola T70 to seventh place alongside Barrie Smith at the 9 Hour Kyalami though the following year would prove to be a stronger season.

Running a Team Gunston Brabham BT26 in 1971, Jackie en­joyed his best F1 season and he started in the best way with victory in early January at Killarney’s Cape South Easter Trophy, ahead of Brian Redman’s Chevron. At the end of the month he was third at the Highveld 100 then his third World Championship entry came in March with the South African GP at Kyalami though the BT26A was out due to mechanical issues after twenty two laps. He had a strong run of results following this and there were two third place finishes at the Coronation 100 and Goldfields Autumn Trophy then two consecutive second places at the Bulawayo 100 (plus a fastest lap) and at Kyalami’s South African Republic Festival Trophy. In July at Roy Hesketh he took a second victory in the Natal Winter Trophy then was third at the following month’s Rand Winter Trophy at Kyalami and fifth at Killarney’s False Bay 100. His final two outings ended in retirement at the Rhodesian GP and the Welkom 100 at Goldfields and he finished second in the championship standings, to Dave Charlton. In sports cars he co-drove in three events with Gijs van Lennep in a Lola T212 and they were fifteenth in the 9 Hour Kyalami, ninth and sixteenth at Cape Town and Lourenco Marques. There were a further three outings alongside Guy Edwards in a Philips Autoradio T212 and they were eleventh at Goldfields plus took two second place finishes at Bulawayo and Roy Hesketh.

In 1973 he was in­vited by Frank Wil­liams to stand in for the in­jured Nani Galli and drive a Wil­liams Iso-Marl­boro FX3B in the South African GP but he was forced to re­tire with over­heat­ing prob­lems after 36 laps.

He then returned to the South African Championship with his Brabham BT-38 though the field featured F1, F2 and F5000 cars and despite racing against Cosworth DFV V8 powered F1 cars, including a Lotus 72 and a Tyrrell 004, as well as the powerful F5000 cars, Jackie drove well to finish on the podium twice. He was fourth in the first two rounds, the Cape South East Trophy at Killarney and Kyalami’s Highveld 100 and later took eighth at Goldfields plus third place podium finishes at the Bulawayo 100 in June and at the final race at the Goldfields 100. In a 12 round championship, he suffered retirements at Kyalami, Killarney, Bulawayo and two events at Roy Hesketh and did not enter two rounds and eventually finished seventh in the standings.

Jackie once commented “I have not any hobbles, although I do play the odd games of golf. Motor racing takes all my time”, though at the end of the year he decided to retire from the sport. In 1975 he was entered for the Kyalami 1000km with a Melville Leyland Austin Marina alongside Spencer Schultze but the drive never took place. He was fortunate to survive two particular heavy crashes during his racing, with one occurring at Bulawayo. His car left the track and skidded towards a barbed wire fence and he recalled doing every­thing he could to stop the car before hitting the fence. Once it came to a halt, the lowest strand of the barbed wire was under his chin and he told how “I had to lean back to lift the wire away and get out!” At Kyalami, while practicing in his Scribante Lotus, a front filtering member sheared at about 130 miles an hour. It careered almost 100 yards across the grass, through two protective fences and uprooted a steel pillar before it stopped. Jackie had slipped down as low as possible into his seat to duck the fences and was miraculously un­injured. As worried officials and friends reached the scene, they found him staggering about looking at the damage and wondering how he could fix it in time for the race the next day. That night he took out the engine and placed it in a borrowed chassis and went on to race the next day.

Renowned for his good hu­mour, he worked for 34 years for Wynn Oil, who had been a staunch sup­porter of mo­tor racing during his time. Fellow racer John Love declared he was the driver he would fear most in an evenly matched car to his own, stating “Jack just never gives up.”

During his racing days, Jackie said of Shirley, she “was right behind me..Just like they say in the story books” but, tragically, On October 11th 2003, Shirley was murdered and Jackie badly beaten when savagely attacked in their home in Glen Austin, a suburb of Johannesburg. Three intruders broke into their house and Shirley was shot in the shoulder and head and Jackie was held at gunpoint and severely beaten. Beaten with iron bars, he was forced to open the safe which the intruders emptied before stealing their car. Both were put in intensive care and Shirley underwent a three-hour operation but sadly died the following day. Unbelievably, in March 2009, his house was broken into again and he was severely injured but died after three weeks in Sun­ninghill hospi­tal in Jo­han­nes­burg on the 30th March 2009.

Such a man Is Jack Pretorius of Johannesburg, who has been associated with motorsport in one way or another for the past ten years or so. In fact, he has been in and out of motor cars most of his life.

Jackie has also become one of the ‘characters’ of the sport in South Africa. The combination of a colourful personality and great motor racing talent has made him one of the country’s most popular drivers. Probably because of his background, he is versatile, adapt­ing himself readily to different types of cars and racing conditions. In the words of the racing fraternity, Jack is a ‘sender’ with a tremendous will to get in there and go, regardless of the adversity which might face him.

No hobbies
Lanky and broad-shouldered. Jack walks with a pronounced limp and bis body carries the scars of yearn of campaigning in a sport which is a life interest to him. “I have not any hobbles” he says, “although I do play the odd games of golf. Motor racing takes ail my time”.
His accidents on and off the track are often the subject of after-race chinwags and the way he tells It, usually the source of consider­able mirth; though not so funny when you stop to think about them.

There was the crash at Kyalami a year ago when Jack was practicing in his Scribante-owned Lotus-Climax. Coming through ‘the Kink’ at about 130 miles an hour a front filtering member sheared and the car left the circuit. It careered every bit of 100 yards through the grass, through two protective fences and uprooted a steel pillar before to coming to rest.
Jack had slipped down as low as possible into his seat to duck the fences and was miraculously un­injured. As worried officials and friends reached the scene, they found him staggering about looking at the damage and wondering how he could fix it in time for the race the next day. That night he took out the engine and placed it in a borrowed chassis – and raced the next day, shock and scratches notwithstanding!

Barbed-wire fence
He tells of another time when his car left the aerodrome circuit near Bulawayo, in Rhodesia, and went skidding towards a barbed wire fence. He remembers doing every­thing he could to stop the car before hitting the fence and finally coming to rest with the lowest strand of the barbed wire under his chin.
“I had to lean back to lift the wire away and get out!”

Jack’s first serious entry into motor sport was driving stock cars in 1957 – in the infancy of this spectator sport in South Africa. Then he teamed up with South Africa’s Doug Serrurier and toured the country with Buddy Fuller’s ‘Hell Drivers’, doing stunts at agricultural shows and other venues, day in and night out.
His association with Doug – the doyen of motor racing drivers in South Africa – has continued until the present day. After his stint with the ‘Hell Drivers’ – where he received the injury to his leg which has caused his limp – he worked as Serrurier’s racing mechanic for five years.
Doug Is South Africa’s only true racing car constructor and knows all about building and racing motor cars.

Immersed in racing lore
This was where Jackie became immersed in racing lore and infor­mation which has made him one of the best practical racing mech­anics in the business today. The first time Doug let him drive a car in practise for an event in 1964. Accident-prone Pretorius says laconically: “The steering column broke and I, um…wrote the car off. Doug said It wasn’t serious’.”
Then at last, Jackie’s dream came true. He was able to purchase one of the Serrurier-built single-seaters-an LDS-Climax-and to go racing in it himself the same year. His ability began to show through and a few thirds, fourths and fifths began to come up in the National Formula 1 championship series.
His ability was noticed by a person who counts – a sponsor – and when Aldo Scribante formed a team of two Formula 1 cars, Jackie was his choice for second driver to Dave Charlton. First, he drove his own LDS Climax and Charlton used the Lotus-Climax and sub­sequently, when a Brabham was purchased for Dave, Jackie inherited the Lotus which Is now fitted with a 2.7-litre Climax engine.

Climb out of obscurity
Thus, slowly, Jackie began his climb out of obscurity into the limelight. His performances with the Scribante car have steadily improved and usually, in Formula 1 races today. Jack Is fighting for third place with John Love and Dave Charlton
And the future? Both Jackie and his attractive wife Shirley, look forward to further motor racing efforts.
“She is right behind me”, he says, “Just like they say in the story books’.”
And the future looks bright. He hopes to get Doug to ‘build me a Brabham’ – (Serrurier’s ability to reproduce and improve on established racing cars is well known) – and there is a possibility that a new 3-litre V8 engine may go with It.
With more power behind him, there is little doubt that Pretorius will be a major threat to Messrs. Love and Charlton. John Love, for instance, said recently that the driver he would fear most in an evenly matched car to his own would be Pretorius. “Jack just never gives up” he says.
Who knows? John might soon have to see if his assessment is correct.
In one respect the three are matched already: all three race on Shell gasoline and lubricants.