Editing Tony Mason

{{Infobox Host
|name={{PAGENAME}}
|image = [[File:Tony Mason.jpg|300px]]Mason in 1997, promoting Eddie Stobart.
|fullname=Tony Mason|origin=uk|sex=Male|occ=Presenter|media=Rally Report|occ2=Presenter|media2=Top Gear (1977 TV series)|occ3=Presenter|media3=Top Gear Motorsport|occ4=Presenter|media4=Classic Car Club|debut=Rally Report/Series 3/Episode 1|debshort=Rally Report: Series 3, Episode 1|year=1986|final=Classic Car Club/Episode 10|finshort=Classic Car Club: Episode 10|year2=2005}}

'''Tony Mason''' was a British rallying expert, co-driver (including winning<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-roger-clark-1138920.html The Independent - Obituary: Roger Clark.]</ref> the 1972 RAC Rally as co-driver for Roger Clark), and classic car and off-roading enthusiast who presented programmes such as ''[[Rally Report]]'', ''[[Top Gear (1977 TV series)|Top Gear]]'', and its [[Top Gear Motorsport|motorsport-themed spinoff]] during the 1980s and 90s.

==Career==
Born sometime around or prior to 1944<ref>Tony Mason's first rally event as co-driver happened in 1962, making him at least 18 by then.</ref>, Tony Mason would serve as co-driver to several rally drivers throughout his career, including Robert H. Lamb, Roy Mapple, and David Cowan, almost winning<ref>[https://www.ewrc-results.com/final/56984-seven-dales-rally-1971/ EWRC Results - Seven Dales Rally 1971 (Final Results).]</ref> the 1971 Seven Dales Rally with Peter Clarke at the wheel, before his most successful partnership began with Roger Clark in 1972. Starting the year off with a win<ref>[https://www.ewrc-results.com/final/33590-mintex-dales-rally-1972/ EWRC Results - Mintex Dales Rally 1972 (Final Results).]</ref> at the rally where victory had eluded him a year earlier, the pair would re-unite at the end of the year and claim the overall victory<ref>[https://www.ewrc-results.com/final/14312-daily-mirror-rac-rally-1972/ EWRC Results - Daily Mirror RAC Rally 1972 (Final Results).]</ref> for the RAC Rally of Great Britain, the final round of the IMC, the predecessor to the modern-day WRC. The pair would come close to repeating this feat in 1973 and 1975, narrowly losing out to Timo Mäkinen by a matter of minutes on both occasions, before Mason retired at the end of that year.

===As automotive journalist===
Mason's first outing as journalist came in 1974, when he wrote<ref>[https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6d2aaab4 BFI - ''Rally Driving'' (1974).]</ref> the commentary script for Barrie Hinchliffe's documentary ''Rally Driving''.

Initially helping to present the [[Rally Report/Series 3|third series]] of ''[[Rally Report]]'' in 1986 along with [[William Woollard]] and [[Barrie Gill]], Mason became ''Top Gear''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s full-time rallying correspondent less than a year later, and would serve in this capacity from [[Top Gear (1977 TV series)/Series 18|Series 18]] in 1987 through to [[Top Gear (1977 TV series)/Series 36|Series 36]] in 1996, before spending his final four series on the show occasionally presenting motorsports segments but also reviewing cars, both normal production vehicles and kit cars. This was due to Mason getting older and the BBC beginning to disassociate itself from broadcasting coverage of the World Rally Championship, shelving ''Rally Report'' in 1998 before losing<ref>[https://www.crash.net/wrc/news/108477/1/channel-4-set-to-revolutionise-wrc-tv-coverage Crash - Channel 4 set to revolutionise WRC TV coverage.]</ref> the broadcast rights altogether in 2001. In addition to rallying, Mason would also present segments on heavy machinery such as trucks and buses, particularly vintage and steam-powered ones.

Overall, Mason would appear in approximately<ref>Disputed figure; IMDb does not list a few of his pre-1988 appearances and may be closer to 135.</ref><ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0556988/ IMDb - Tony Mason.]</ref> 128 episodes of ''Top Gear'' before retiring at the end of [[Top Gear (1977 TV series)/Series 40|Series 40]], his final appearance being [[Top Gear (1977 TV series)/Series 43/Episode 3|Series 43, Episode 3]] in 2000 as part of a one-off reunion with other former presenters such as [[Jeremy Clarkson]]. In 1995, Mason would hold the unique distinction of driving the most expensive vehicle that he or anyone else in ''Top Gear''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s history has ever driven - the £15 million [[Volvo Environmental Concept Bus]], which is a record Mason still holds<ref>The only vehicle more expensive than the ECB is the Bugatti La Voiture Noire priced at £16 million; should a ''Top Gear'' presenter ever drive this, then the record will be broken.</ref> as of 2022. In addition, Mason holds the distinction of being one of just three people to have appeared on ''Top Gear'' in addition to its predecessor which aired in the '60s and early '70s; ''[[Wheelbase]]''. The other two people to share this distinction were [[Judith Jackson]] and the aforementioned Barrie Gill. However, Mason was the only person of these three to not appear in a hosting capacity, but rather as Roger Clark's co-driver.

===Later years and personal life===
A year after leaving ''Top Gear'', Mason would provide the voiceover for the 1999 video game ''Mobil 1 Rally Championship''. In 2000, he would also provide narration<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11277124/ IMDb - The World's Greatest Rally Cars (2000).]</ref> for the home video documentary ''The World's Greatest Rally Cars'', which also featured Stig Blomqvist and Colin McRae. According to ''Top Gear'' scriptwriter [[Richard Porter]], Mason also publicly endorsed<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20011129112239/http://www.sniffpetrol.com/ SniffPetrol - November 2001.]</ref> anti-static straps designed to combat vehicular motion sickness. During the mid 2000s, Mason would briefly team-up with presenters such as [[Edd China]] and [[Penny Mallory]] in order to present ''[[Classic Car Club]]'' and ''Off The Road'' for the Discovery network under China's production company<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0047408 IMDb - Attaboy TV.]</ref> Attaboy TV. In 2013, he would write and publish<ref>[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15811071-mason-s-motoring-mayhem Goodreads - Mason's Motoring Mayhem.]</ref> ''Mason's Motoring Mayhem'', an autobiography which detailed many facets of Mason's life.

Despite the same surname, significant facial resemblance and similar hobbies, Mason was not related to [[Nick Mason]] of ''Pink Floyd'' fame.

==References==
<references/>

==Navigation==
{{TG 1977 Hosts}}