Tire Store Owner Sam Winston Is Killed in Utah Car Accident
Sam Winston, the self-effacing pitchman who became a household name after years of starring in his tire company’s television commercials, was killed when he was thrown from the vehicle his wife was driving after it went out of control and rolled over in western Utah, authorities said Wednesday.
Winston, 54, died Tuesday of injuries sustained when the 1995 Jeep Wrangler went off the road shortly before 11 a.m. on Interstate 80, about 40 miles west of Salt Lake City, said Verdi White, a spokesman for the Utah Highway Patrol. His wife, Demetra, also was injured, “but she is OK,†White said.
No other details of the accident were available Wednesday, he said. The Winstons lived in Jiggs, Nev.
Despite Winston’s high visibility on television commercials, he steadfastly avoided the spotlight for himself and his Burbank-based Winston Tire Co. “He’s a very private person,†an advertising executive whose firm handled the Winston account told The Times in 1991.
Winston did not particularly like doing the TV commercials, the executive said, but he did it because he realized that he attracted “enormous attention,†and that his presence kept consumer awareness of his tires high.
Winston’s television ads showed an executive whose easy, down-home drawl and next-door-neighbor image were designed to generate comfort and trust in consumers who may have been wary of auto repair shops.
One ad showed Winston working late when the office cleaning lady stops by, telling him that if the business isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Winston takes that advice. “There is a kind of good-natured humility that comes through in the advertising, and we try to capture and capitalize on that,†an advertising executive said in 1991.
Winston’s competitors conceded that those TV ads were crucial to the growth of the company.
“The basic reason for Winston’s success is that he was one of the original tire dealers that used the electronic media for his message of quality at a good price,†one competitor, who asked to remain anonymous, said in 1991. “It’s not that his values are any greater than mine or anyone else’s, but it’s a perception that started a long time ago.â€
That perception was marred two years ago when Winston Tire agreed to pay $1.4 million on charges that it sold customers unneeded automotive parts. The case against the company was assisted when a former Winston sales manager, who remembered being encouraged to be honest during training, contacted the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office about apparent overbilling at a San Fernando Valley shop, prosecutors said.
The company did not admit any wrongdoing in reaching the settlement, but Winston said in a statement afterward that the company had adopted new policies and procedures to prevent any future overbilling.
After his father died when he was a teen-ager, the Tennessee-born Winston followed his mother to the Los Angeles area. She married Ray Oliver, and the two men began selling tires wholesale in 1962. They opened their first retail store in Glendale two years later, selling Delta brand tires. Meanwhile, Winston completed a bachelor’s degree in economics at USC in 1964.
The company’s early growth was slow, with only four more outlets opened in its first four years. But the next two decades saw rapid expansion. He introduced his private-label tire, Winston, in 1971 and began adding services such as brake and wheel alignment repairs in 1976.
The firm now has 172 tire and automotive service centers with 1,400 employees, the company said in a statement, adding that Winston is the best-selling independent brand in California.
Winston also attended the Naval Academy and served in the Marine Corps. He was a board member of Meals on Wheels, a program that provides hot meals to elderly and ill people.
Winston’s associates describe him as casual, mild-mannered and unpretentious, although his stake in the tire company made him a multimillionaire. But he had a taste for luxury cars--a Rolls-Royce and a Ferrari--and pricey homes. He enjoyed big-game hunting and adorned his office with the heads of bighorn sheep, bears and other animals.
He is survived by his wife, two children, Sam II and Melissa, and four grandchildren. Funeral services are scheduled at 10 a.m. Friday at Burns Funeral Home in Elko, Nev. Public visitation will be held at the funeral home from 3 to 8 p.m.
