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SA mourns passing of motor racing great Eddie Keizan
JACK MILNER
Eddie Keizan did not have the longevity of a Jody Scheckter in the sport and may not have won the World Championship, but he was still one of the best drivers around.
Sadly, Eddie passed away on May 21 at the age of 71 but he left behind a wonderful legacy.
His days in Formula One lasted only three years – from 1973 to 1975 – and he just competed in the rounds in South Africa but he still demonstrated he could compete with the best.
Eddie was born on September 12, 1944 and matriculated at King Edward V11 High School (Kes) in Johannesburg and then studied at the University of the Witwatersrand. His passion was always motorsport and after leaving university he participated professionally in the sport over the next 14 years.
He won the Production Car Championships in 1969, 1970, 1977 and 1978 and during that period also competed in those three World Championship Formula 1 rounds in South Africa in a Tyrrell and Lotus.
The first year he was not classified but the following year he finished 14th behind Argentina’s Carlos Reutemann, who had his first Formula One success. Unfortunately that Grand Prix is better remembered for the accident that killed American Peter Revson in a test session before the race.
A year later Eddie competed again and this time ended up in 13th spot behind Scheckter. To demonstrate the quality of the opposition, other than Scheckter and Reutemann, he raced against the likes of James Hunt, Nikki Lauda, Jackie Ickx, Emerson Fitipaldi, Graham Hill and Jochen Mass.
At the end of 1975 the South African championship was downgraded to Formula Atlantic cars and Eddie went back to racing touring cars with his own team, running a BMW 535 and winning the title twice more in 1977 and 1978.
Eddie also participated in rally driving, winning Lesotho’s Roof of Africa in 1969 and 1972. He retired from professional motorsport after winning the Wynns 1000km at Kyalami in 1979 but continued racing competitively, his last major victory coming at the 2012 Border 100 Endurance event.
In 1972 Eddie bought a small business called Tiger Wheels and as chief executive grew the business until his retirement in 2008. Tiger Wheels Ltd was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from 1987 until 2007. Its two primary activities were the manufacture of aluminium wheels for the auto industry and the retailing of tyres and wheels.
The company began as a small concern in Fordsburg but after the acquisition of ATS in Germany in 1998, the manufacturing side of the business was acknowledged as the sixth largest aluminium wheel manufacturer in the world, factories in Germany, Poland, the US and South Africa.
Eddie is survived by Hilary, his wife of 40 years, children Gary and Natasha and five grandchildren.
