Jody Scheckter

Jody David Scheckter (Template:IPAc-en; born 29 January 1950) is a South African former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from Template:F1 to Template:F1. Scheckter won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in Template:F1 with Ferrari, and remains the only African driver to have won a Formula One Grand Prix or the World Drivers' Championship; he won 10 Grands Prix across nine seasons.

Born and raised in East London, Cape Province, Scheckter rapidly ascended through the ranks of motor racing upon moving to the United Kingdom in 1970. His Formula One debut came two years later at the 1972 United States Grand Prix, driving for McLaren, whom he had raced for that year in British and European Formula Two. Amongst winning the SCCA Continental Championship in Formula 5000, Scheckter entered a further five Grands Prix in Template:F1 with McLaren. Scheckter earned a full-time drive with Tyrrell the following season, taking his maiden win at the Template:F1GP and finishing third in the championship. Scheckter won his home Grand Prix in South Africa in Template:F1 and placed third in the standings again in Template:F1, driving the six-wheeled P34; he remains the only driver to win a Grand Prix on six wheels.

Moving to Wolf in Template:F1, Scheckter took several race wins—including the Template:F1GP—as he finished runner-up to Niki Lauda in the standings. After a winless season for Wolf in Template:F1, Scheckter moved to Ferrari to partner Gilles Villeneuve. Winning three Grands Prix in his first season for Ferrari, Scheckter clinched the title with his victory at the Template:F1GP, becoming the first World Drivers' Champion from Africa. He was unable to defend his title in Template:F1 as Ferrari struggled with the 312T5, retiring at the end of the season having achieved 10 race wins, three pole positions, five fastest laps and 33 podiums in Formula One.

Upon retiring from motor racing, Scheckter worked as a broadcaster for CBS, ABC and ITV. He founded a weapons simulation business in 1984 called Firearms Training Systems, whose revenue eclipsed £100 million by the early 1990s. Scheckter then moved into organic farming, owning Laverstoke Park Farm in England. His sons Toby and Tomas are both racing drivers.

Career

Jody David Scheckter was born on 29 January 1950 in East London, Cape Province, Union of South Africa,<ref name=":0" /> and educated at Vincent Primary School (East London) and Selborne College.Template:Citation needed

Formula One

File:Scheckter Britain 1974.jpg

Scheckter in a Tyrrell 007 at the 1974 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.

He rapidly ascended to the ranks of Formula One after moving to Britain in 1970. His Formula 1 debut occurred at the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in 1972 with McLaren, where he ran as high as third place before spinning and finishing ninth. Immediately becoming a name to watch, he continued his development the following year, winning the 1973 SCCA L&M Championship and racing five times in F1. In France, he almost won in only his third start in F1 before crashing into Emerson Fittipaldi, the reigning World Champion, who said after the crash about Scheckter: "This madman is a menace to himself and everybody else and does not belong in Formula 1."<ref name="hof"/> In his next start, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Scheckter's spin triggered a major accident which took nearly a dozen cars out of the race. The Grand Prix Drivers Association demanded his immediate banishment, which was only put off when McLaren agreed to rest their driver for four races.<ref name="hof"/> Scheckter's McLaren M23 bore the number zero during the Canadian and American Grands Prix of 1973. Scheckter is one of only two F1 drivers to compete under this number, the other being Damon Hill. During the practice for the American event at the Watkins Glen circuit, Frenchman François Cevert, who was due to be Scheckter's Tyrrell teammate for 1974, was killed in an appalling accident at the fast uphill Esses corners. Scheckter was behind Cevert when he crashed, and he stopped his McLaren, got out of his car and attempted to help Cevert out of his destroyed Tyrrell, but the 29-year-old Frenchman had been cut in half by the circuit's poorly installed Armco barriers and was already dead. Witnessing Cevert's dreadful accident left an indelible mark on the South African and caused him to abandon his reckless ways, becoming a more mature and calculating driver as a result.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:ScheckterJody1976-07-31Tyrrell-FordP34.jpg

Scheckter in the iconic six-wheel Tyrrell P34 at the Nürburgring in 1976.

Tyrrell in 1974 gave Scheckter his first full-time drive in F1 and he rewarded them with a third-place finish in the Drivers' Championship and a pair of wins in Sweden and Britain. During the year, he scored points in eight consecutive races, one of the longer scoring streaks of the time. A slight off-year followed, although he did become the only South African to win the South African Grand Prix, but his third year with the team in 1976 gave him another third-place finish in the Drivers' Championship. In that season, Tyrrell introduced the most radical car in F1 history, the innovative six-wheeled Tyrrell P34. Although he later went on record as saying the car was "a piece of junk", Scheckter gave the six-wheeler its only win on Sweden's Anderstorp circuit and in his twelve races with the car, he scored points ten times. This included a thrilling race-long battle for the lead in the American Grand Prix between himself and his great friend James Hunt.

Scheckter left for Walter Wolf's new team in 1977 and Scheckter gave the team a win in its maiden race. He won twice more with the team and was often on the podium, but finished second on points behind a more dominant Niki Lauda. A seventh-place finish with the team in 1978 followed and he left the team after the season to join Ferrari to partner Gilles Villeneuve in the team's ground effect 312T4 car.

File:Jody Scheckter 1979 Monaco.jpg

Scheckter driving for Ferrari at the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix.

Critics felt he would not get along well with the domineering management at Ferrari, but he far surpassed expectations and helped give F1's most recognisable team another Constructors' Championship, while Scheckter's consistent finishes, with three wins among them, gave him the Drivers' Championship in 1979.<ref name="hof">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, he struggled badly in his 1980 title defence, even failing to qualify for the Canadian Grand Prix. After managing only two points, Scheckter announced his retirement from the team and the sport. Scheckter was the last driver to win a Drivers' Championship for Ferrari until Michael Schumacher twenty-one years later in Template:F1.

Other ventures

Broadcasting

Template:BLP unsourced section In 1981, CBS Sports hired Scheckter as a Pit reporter for its F1 coverage. Scheckter was brought in by ABC's Wide World of Sports as a Pit reporter for the 1983 Monaco Grand Prix. Scheckter was a guest commentator for ITV during the 1999 San Marino Grand Prix, replacing Martin Brundle.

Scheckter won the World Superstars competition in 1981, taking place in Key Biscayne, Florida. He defeated athletes such as Russ Francis, Renaldo Nehemiah, Peter Müller, Rick Barry, Gaétan Boucher and Andy Ripley.

Business

After his retirement, Scheckter founded a weapons simulation business in 1984 called Firearms Training Systems (FATS), whose revenue eclipsed £100 million by the early 1990s.<ref name="FATS">Template:Cite journal</ref> The company built firearms training simulators for military, law enforcement and security organisations.<ref name="FATS"/>

Farming

Scheckter spent his time as a biodynamic farmer,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> having bought the Template:Convert<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Laverstoke Park Farm, near Overton, Hampshire, Template:Convert south west of London. As an organic farming expert, Scheckter was featured in 2005 on the Visionhealth DVD and TV documentaries "Asthma: An Integrated Approach", "Arthritis: An Integrated Approach" and "Diabetes: An Integrated Approach". On 20 November 2011, he also appeared on the Countryfile television show to make a case for organic food. Laverstoke Park Farm was also featured on BBC's Escape To the Country where Scheckter showed viewers how Buffalo Mozzarella was made. In December 2009, Scheckter announced his intention to produce a biodynamic sparkling wine by 2012.<ref>Lawrence, James, Decanter.com (14 December 2009). Jody Scheckter announces Hampshire winery plans Template:Webarchive</ref> In 2015, the farm was the setting for ITV's Sugar Free Farm where a group of celebrities had to go sugar free for two weeks whilst working on the farm. In 2024, the farm ceased dairy production and buffalo farming with operations at the compost plant not affected and the farm would continue to host carfest.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Charity

In 2004, Scheckter was reunited with his championship-winning Ferrari at the South African two-seater F1x2 Charity Grand Prix at Kyalami in South Africa.

Personal life

Scheckter is married and has had six children: two, Toby and Tomas, from his previous wife Pamela; and four, Hugo, Freddie, Ila and Poppy, from his current marriage to Clare.

His daughter Ila died on 17 October 2019, at age 21.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The sale of his firearms simulation company provided funds to allow Scheckter to help the racing careers of his sons Tomas and Toby. Tomas raced in the Indy Racing League where he won two races. Scheckter's elder brother Ian also raced in Formula One.

Awards and honours

In 1983, he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	Template:Abbr	Podiums	Points	Position
1972	European Formula Two	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	8	1	0	1	1	15	8th
	British Formula Two		5	1	0	0	1	12	4th
	Formula One	Yardley Team McLaren	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1973	SCCA Continental Championship	Taylor-Entin	9	4	2	2	8	144	1st
	Formula One	Yardley Team McLaren	5	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	European Formula Two	Motul Rondel Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	European Formula 5000	Sid Taylor Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	World Sportscar Championship	Herb Wetanson	0	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1974	Formula One	Elf Team Tyrrell	15	2	0	2	6	45	3rd
	World Sportscar Championship	BMW Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1975	Formula One	Elf Team Tyrrell	14	1	0	0	3	20	7th
	World Sportscar Championship	Willi Kauhsen Racing Team	3	0	1	1	0	6	NC
	SCCA Continental Championship	Hogan Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
		Shadow Racing Team	1	0	0	0	0
1976	Formula One	Elf Team Tyrrell	16	1	1	1	5	49	3rd
	World Sportscar Championship	Automobiles Alpine	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1977	Formula One	Walter Wolf Racing	17	3	1	2	9	55	2nd
1978	Formula One	Walter Wolf Racing	16	0	0	0	4	24	7th
1979	Formula One	SEFAC Ferrari	15	3	1	0	6	51	1st
1980	Formula One	SEFAC Ferrari	13	0	0	0	0	2	19th
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Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	PointsTemplate:Efn
Template:F1	Yardley Team McLaren	McLaren M19A	Cosworth V8	ARG	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA Template:Small						NC	0
Template:F1	Yardley Team McLaren	McLaren M19A	Cosworth V8	ARG	BRA	RSA Template:Small	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE											NC	0
		McLaren M23									FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	NED	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN Template:Small	USA Template:Small
Template:F1	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 006	Cosworth V8	ARG Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small															3rd	45
		Tyrrell 007					ESP Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	MON Template:Small	SWE Template:Small	NED Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	USA Template:Small
Template:F1	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 007	Cosworth V8	ARG Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	MON Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	SWE Template:Small	NED Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	USA Template:Small				7th	20
Template:F1	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 007	Cosworth V8	BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small	USW Template:Small	ESP Template:Small														3rd	49
		Tyrrell P34						BEL Template:Small	MON Template:Small	SWE Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	USA Template:Small	JPN Template:Small
Template:F1	Walter Wolf Racing	Wolf WR1	Cosworth V8	ARG Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small	USW Template:Small		MON Template:Small		SWE Template:Small		GBR Template:Small				ITA Template:Small		CAN Template:Small		2nd	55
		Wolf WR2						ESP Template:Small						GER Template:Small		NED Template:Small		USA Template:Small
		Wolf WR3								BEL Template:Small		FRA Template:Small			AUT Template:Small					JPN Template:Small
Template:F1	Walter Wolf Racing	Wolf WR4	Cosworth V8	ARG Template:Small																	7th	24
		Wolf WR1			BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small		MON Template:Small	BEL Template:Small
		Wolf WR3					USW Template:Small
		Wolf WR5								ESP Template:Small	SWE Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small		ITA Template:Small
		Wolf WR6														NED Template:Small		USA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small
Template:F1	SEFAC Ferrari	Ferrari 312T3	Ferrari Flat-12	ARG Template:Small	BRA Template:Small																1st	51 (60)
		Ferrari 312T4				RSA Template:Small	USW Template:Small	ESP Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	MON Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	USA Template:Small
Template:F1	SEFAC Ferrari	Ferrari 312T5	Ferrari Flat-12	ARG Template:Small	BRA Template:Small	RSA Template:Small	USW Template:Small	BEL Template:Small	MON Template:Small	FRA Template:Small	GBR Template:Small	GER Template:Small	AUT Template:Small	NED Template:Small	ITA Template:Small	CAN Template:Small	USA Template:Small				19th	2
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Formula One non-championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6
1972	Yardley Team McLaren	McLaren M19A	Cosworth V8	ROC	BRA	INT	OUL	REP	VIC Template:Small
1973	Yardley Team McLaren	McLaren M19C	Cosworth V8	ROC Template:Small	INT
1974	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 006	Cosworth V8	PRE Template:Small	ROC	INT
1975	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 007	Cosworth V8	ROC Template:Small	INT	SUI
1976	Elf Team Tyrrell	Tyrrell 007	Cosworth V8	ROC Template:Small	INT Template:Small
1977	Walter Wolf Racing	Wolf WR1	Ford V8	ROC Template:Small
1979	SEFAC Ferrari	Ferrari 312T4	Ferrari Flat-12	ROC	GNM	DIN Template:Small
1980	SEFAC Ferrari	Ferrari 312T5	Ferrari Flat-12	ESP Template:Small
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See also

• Formula One drivers from South Africa
• List of select Jewish racing drivers