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Jody Scheckter | |
|---|---|
 Scheckter at the1979 Monaco Grand Prix | |
| Born | Jody David Scheckter (1950-01-29)29 January 1950 (age 75) East London, Eastern Cape,Union of South Africa |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 6, includingToby andTomas |
| Relatives | Ian Scheckter (brother) |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  South African |
| Active years | 1972–1980 |
| Teams | McLaren,Tyrrell,Wolf,Ferrari |
| Entries | 113 (112 starts) |
| Championships | 1 (1979) |
| Wins | 10 |
| Podiums | 33 |
| Careerpoints | 246 (255)[a] |
| Pole positions | 3 |
| Fastest laps | 5 |
| First entry | 1972 United States Grand Prix |
| First win | 1974 Swedish Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1979 Italian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1980 United States Grand Prix |
Jody David Scheckter (/ˈʃɛktər/; born 29 January 1950) is a South African formerracing driver and businessman who competed inFormula One from1972 to1980. Scheckter won theFormula One World Drivers' Championship in1979 withFerrari, and remains the only African driver to havewon a Formula One Grand Prix or the World Drivers' Championship; he won 10 Grands Prix across nine seasons.
Born and raised inEast London, Cape Province, Scheckter rapidly ascended through the ranks ofmotor racing upon moving to the United Kingdom in 1971. His Formula One debut came the following year at theUnited States Grand Prix, driving forMcLaren, who he had raced for that year inBritish andEuropean Formula Two. Amongst winning theSCCA Continental Championship inFormula 5000, Scheckter entered a further five Grands Prix in1973 with McLaren. Scheckter earned a full-time drive withTyrrell thefollowing season, taking his maiden win at theSwedish Grand Prix and finishing third in the championship. Scheckter wonhis home Grand Prix in South Africa in1975 and placed third in the standings again in1976, driving the six-wheeledP34; he remains the only driver towin a Grand Prix on six wheels.
Moving toWolf in1977, Scheckter took several race wins—including theMonaco Grand Prix—as he finished runner-up toNiki Lauda in the standings. After a winless season for Wolf in1978, Scheckter moved toFerrari to partnerGilles Villeneuve. Winning three Grands Prix inhis first season for Ferrari, Scheckter clinched the title with his victory at theItalian Grand Prix, becoming the first World Drivers' Champion from Africa. He was unable to defend his title in1980 as Ferrari struggled with the312T5, 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 abroadcaster forCBS,ABC andITV. He founded aweapons simulation business in 1984 calledFirearms Training Systems, whoserevenue eclipsed £100 million by the early 1990s. Scheckter then moved intoorganic farming, owningLaverstoke Park Farm in England. His sonsToby andTomas are both racing drivers.
Jody David Scheckter was born on 29 January 1950 inEast London,Cape Province,Union of South Africa,[1] and educated at Vincent Primary School (East London) andSelborne College.[citation needed]
He rapidly ascended to the ranks of Formula One after moving to Britain in early 1971. His Formula 1 debut occurred at the US Grand Prix atWatkins Glen in1972 withMcLaren, 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 the1973 SCCA L&M Championship and racing five times in F1. In France, he almost won in only his third start in F1 before crashing intoEmerson 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."[2] In his next start, the British Grand Prix atSilverstone, Scheckter's spin triggered a major accident which took nearly a dozen cars out of the race. TheGrand Prix Drivers Association demanded his immediate banishment, which was only put off when McLaren agreed to rest their driver for four races.[2] Scheckter'sMcLaren 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 beingDamon Hill. During the practice for the American event at theWatkins Glen circuit, FrenchmanFrançois 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.[3]
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 inSweden andBritain. 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 theSouth 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-wheeledTyrrell 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'sAnderstorp 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 theAmerican Grand Prix between himself and his great friendJames Hunt.
Scheckter left forWalter 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 dominantNiki Lauda. A seventh-place finish with the team in 1978 followed and he left the team after the season to joinFerrari to partnerGilles Villeneuve in the team's ground effect312T4 car.
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.[2] However, he struggled badly in his 1980 title defence, even failing to qualify for theCanadian 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 untilMichael Schumacher twenty-one years later in2000.
| This section of abiography of a living persondoes notinclude anyreferences or sources. Please help by addingreliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourcedmust be removed immediately. Find sources: "Jody Scheckter" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In 1981,CBS Sports hired Scheckter as a Pit reporter for itsF1 coverage. Scheckter was brought in byABC'sWide World of Sports as a Pit reporter for the1983 Monaco Grand Prix. Scheckter was a guest commentator for ITV during the1999 San Marino Grand Prix, replacingMartin Brundle.
Scheckter won theWorld Superstars competition in 1981, taking place inKey Biscayne, Florida. He defeated athletes such asRuss Francis,Renaldo Nehemiah,Peter Müller,Rick Barry,Gaétan Boucher andAndy Ripley.
After his retirement, Scheckter founded aweapons simulation business in 1984 calledFirearms Training Systems (FATS), whoserevenue eclipsed £100 million by the early 1990s.[4] The company built firearms training simulators for military, law enforcement and security organisations.[4]
Scheckter spent his time as abiodynamic farmer,[5] having bought the 2,500 acres (1,000 ha)[1]Laverstoke Park Farm, nearOverton, Hampshire, 40 miles (64 km) 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 theCountryfile television show to make a case fororganic food. Laverstoke Park Farm was also featured on BBC'sEscape To the Country where Scheckter showed viewers howBuffalo Mozzarella was made. In December 2009, Scheckter announced his intention to produce abiodynamicsparkling wine by 2012.[6] In 2015, the farm was the setting for ITV'sSugar 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 hostcarfest.[7]
In 2004, Scheckter was reunited with his championship-winning Ferrari at the South African two-seater F1x2 Charity Grand Prix atKyalami in South Africa.
Scheckter is married and has had six children: two,Toby andTomas, 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.[8] 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 theIndy Racing League where he won two races. Scheckter's elder brotherIan also raced in Formula One.
In 1983, he was inducted into theInternational Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | 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 | ElfTeam Tyrrell | 15 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 45 | 3rd |
| World Sportscar Championship | BMW Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |
| 1975 | Formula One | ElfTeam 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 | ElfTeam 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 |
Source:[9] | |||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)(Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | US Formula A/F5000 Champion 1973 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Formula One World Champion 1979 | Succeeded by |
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