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Contributed by Johann Marais
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Thursday, 23 March 2006 |
It is with great sadness that we have to advise you that our friend Tony Newman, who was a member of the initial NOW committee and so ably assisted us in getting the necessary sponsorships, was killed in a car crash on Wednesday 22 March 2006.
We will certainly miss his humour and his commitment to our cause.
We trust that his family will find consolation in our thoughts and prayers.
 Tony Newman
1941 – 2006
Tony Newman, promotions manager of Bridgestone tyre company and a well-known 4x4 motoring and motor sport personality, died in a motor accident on the N3 highway in Johannesburg on Wednesday, 22nd March. He was 64.
Tony was born in 1941 in the Eastern Cape and educated at Union High School in Graaf Reinet. He travelled to England as a Queen’s scout to represent South Africa at the World Scouting Jamboree in 1957 and on his return trained as a printer.
After some years in the printing industry and then in advertising in the former Rhodesia and South Africa, where he worked as an account executive, he joined Firestone in 1972. Apart from a brief time in the outdoor advertising business, he spent the rest of his working career with Firestone (later to become Bridgestone), primarily in the marketing department. He and his then advertising agency, Fletcher Shelton Co-ordination, will be remembered for their endearing “Dem Stones” television campaign in the 1980s, which he successfully resurrected in recent years.
He was closely associated with motor sport through Firestone and Bridgestone, from the early ‘70s when South African motor racing champions like John Love and Dave Charlton raced in Firestone-shod Formula One cars sponsored by Gunston and Lucky Strike.
When Firestone returned to motor sport after a 21-year hiatus, he was actively involved in its sponsorship, promotions and advertising and oversaw a successful period from 1993 to 1998 with Group N / production car champions like Robbi Smith in the Peter Kaye-Eddie-managed privateer Firestone Firehawk BMW 325iS and Shaun Watson-Smith in the works Opels, off road champions like Apie Reynecke and Hannes Grobler, and rally champions like Hannes Grobler and Schalk Burger (a national and African champion in Bridgestone-sponsored cars).
He was instrumental in Firestone’s and then Bridgestone’s continued support of the national production car championship, where Firestones and then Bridgestones have been the control tyres since 1999. He was responsible for Bridgestone’s decision to support karting through the Autoquip retail network, which the company saw as the nursery of motor sport and an important development category, providing opportunities for aspirant racing drivers from previously disadvantaged communities.
While group marketing manager he initiated Bridgestone’s sponsorship of the Guild of Motoring Journalists’ Motor Sportsman of the Year competition in 1994. Last year Bridgestone became sponsor of the Guild’s Committee for Active Road Safety (CARS).
He was an enthusiastic and gifted cook with a partiality to potjie kos and loved nothing better than to cook for and entertain his friends. He was also a skilled wood worker and avid do-it-yourselfer who would take on any home building or construction task and produce a perfect job.
He died in his much loved short wheel base Land Rover Defender, kitted out to travel the length and breadth of southern Africa. His interest in 4x4s and off road driving saw him initiate the innovative 4x4 Fundi sales training programme at Bridgestone and he was involved with the National Offroad Workshop (NOW) which maintains close contact with the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in monitoring and self-regulating off road recreational driving in South Africa. He was also a former committee member of the Association of All Wheel Drive Clubs of Southern Africa.
He leaves three daughters, Cathy, Belinda and Kirsty, a son, Sean, three grand daughters and faithful domestic helper, Mabel Pheza, who looked after him for 18 years.
The funeral will be at St Thomas’s Anglican church in Linden (cnr 3rd Ave and 8th St) on Wednesday, 29th March at 3 pm. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Children of Fire charity, FNB Melville, branch code 256505, account no 61492023919, NPO no 006-702.
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