Inventor of The Club steering wheel lock among 3 dead in crash
James E. Winner Jr., a Sharon businessman whose claim to fame was The Club, a steering-wheel lock for cars, was killed in a head-on collision in Clarion County on Tuesday that claimed the lives of two other people.
State police said Mr. Winner, 81, who also has an address in Hollywood Beach, Fla., was driving his Lexus on Miola Road in Highland at about 4:40 p.m. when his car crossed the center line into the opposite lane and hit a Chevy Blazer driven by Bobby Jarrett, 82, of Forest County. Mr. Jarrett and his passenger, Raymond Fair, 76, of Tylersburg in Clarion County, were both killed.
Mr. Winner, whose business empire over the years included hotels and steel processing plants, created Winner International in 1986 to market The Club. According to the company's website, he came up with the idea after his Cadillac was stolen. As an Army veteran in Korea, he remembered how he had secured his vehicle's steering wheel with a chain to keep thieves from being able to steer. If they can't steer, he said, they can't steal.
Winner International, based in Sharon, said company officials and family members would not be available but issued a statement saying the "outpouring" of support from the community was appreciated. Mr. Winner's family requested privacy.
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
First published on September 15, 2010 at 12:00 am
The Club steering lock installed in a car. 
The inventor of  steering lock  has died in a head-on car accident in , Pennsylvania aged 81 today. Two others died in the accident.

Authorities say the accident occurred when Winner drove his SUV into oncoming traffic. The others who died were in Winner's car. They were Bobby Jarrett, 82, and Raymond Fair, 76.

Winner created The Club steering lock in the early 80s after his car was stolen. He came up with the idea while fighting in the ; he secured his vehicle with metal chains to stop anybody taking it. He said, "If they can’t steer, they can’t steal." 

He sold the first Club in Pennsylvania and later founded  and sold over ten million units. Winner also owned hotels, a steel company, and other companies.

A spokesman for Winner International said in a statement, "this is a very difficult time for all of us and the family would request that you honor their privacy."