kids encyclopedia robot

Jody Scheckter facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Jody Scheckter
Jody Scheckter during the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix.jpg
Jody Scheckter at the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix
Born (1950-01-29) 29 January 1950 (age 74)
East London, Cape Province, Union of South Africa
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality South Africa South African
Active years 19721980
Teams McLaren, Tyrrell, Wolf, Ferrari
Entries 113 (112 starts)
Championships 1 (1979)
Wins 10
Podiums 33
Career points 246 (255)
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 business proprietor and former motor racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 1972 to 1980, winning the Drivers' Championship in 1979 with Ferrari. Scheckter is the first and, as of 2023, only driver from the continent of Africa to have won a Formula One race or the World Drivers' Championship.

Career

Scheckter was born in East London, Eastern Cape, and educated at Vincent Primary School (East London) and Selborne College.

Formula One

Scheckter Britain 1974
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." 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. 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.

ScheckterJody1976-07-31Tyrrell-FordP34
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.

Jody Scheckter 1979 Monaco
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. 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 2000.

After Formula One

Broadcaster

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.

Other interests

In 1981, Scheckter won the World Superstars competition in Key Biscayne, Florida. He defeated athletes such as Russ Francis, Renaldo Nehemiah, Peter Müller, Rick Barry, Gaétan Boucher and Andy Ripley. In 1983, he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

After Scheckter's retirement, he founded FATS Inc, a company which built firearms training simulators for military, law enforcement and security organisations. The sale of the 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 brother, Ian, also raced in F1 for a few years.

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.

Present

Scheckter now spends his time as a biodynamic farmer, having bought the 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) Laverstoke Park Farm, near Overton, 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 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. 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.

Personal life

He 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.

Racing record

Career summary

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 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 Scuderia Ferrari 15 3 1 0 6 51 1st
1980 Formula One Scuderia Ferrari 13 0 0 0 0 2 19th
Source:

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 Points
1972 Yardley Team McLaren McLaren M19A Cosworth V8 ARG RSA ESP MON BEL FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA
9
NC 0
1973 Yardley Team McLaren McLaren M19A Cosworth V8 ARG BRA RSA
9
ESP BEL MON SWE NC 0
McLaren M23 FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
NED GER AUT ITA CAN
Ret
USA
Ret
1974 Elf Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 006 Cosworth V8 ARG
Ret
BRA
13
RSA
8
3rd 45
Tyrrell 007 ESP
5
BEL
3
MON
2
SWE
1
NED
5
FRA
4
GBR
1
GER
2
AUT
Ret
ITA
3
CAN
Ret
USA
Ret
1975 Elf Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 007 Cosworth V8 ARG
11
BRA
Ret
RSA
1
ESP
Ret
MON
7
BEL
2
SWE
7
NED
16
FRA
9
GBR
3
GER
Ret
AUT
8
ITA
8
USA
6
7th 20
1976 Elf Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 007 Cosworth V8 BRA
5
RSA
4
USW
Ret
ESP
Ret
3rd 49
Tyrrell P34 BEL
4
MON
2
SWE
1
FRA
6
GBR
2
GER
2
AUT
Ret
NED
5
ITA
5
CAN
4
USA
2
JPN
Ret
1977 Walter Wolf Racing Wolf WR1 Cosworth V8 ARG
1
BRA
Ret
RSA
2
USW
3
MON
1
SWE
Ret
GBR
Ret
ITA
Ret
CAN
1
2nd 55
Wolf WR2 ESP
3
GER
2
NED
3
USA
3
Wolf WR3 BEL
Ret
FRA
Ret
AUT
Ret
JPN
10
1978 Walter Wolf Racing Wolf WR4 Cosworth V8 ARG
10
7th 24
Wolf WR1 BRA
Ret
RSA
Ret
MON
3
BEL
Ret
Wolf WR3 USW
Ret
Wolf WR5 ESP
4
SWE
Ret
FRA
6
GBR
Ret
GER
2
AUT
Ret
ITA
12
Wolf WR6 NED
12
USA
3
CAN
2
1979 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 312T3 Ferrari Flat-12 ARG
Ret
BRA
6
1st 51 (60)
Ferrari 312T4 RSA
2
USW
2
ESP
4
BEL
1
MON
1
FRA
7
GBR
5
GER
4
AUT
4
NED
2
ITA
1
CAN
4
USA
Ret
1980 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 312T5 Ferrari Flat-12 ARG
Ret
BRA
Ret
RSA
Ret
USW
5
BEL
8
MON
Ret
FRA
12
GBR
10
GER
13
AUT
13
NED
9
ITA
8
CAN
DNQ
USA
11
19th 2
Sources:

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
NC
1973 Yardley Team McLaren McLaren M19C Cosworth V8 ROC
Ret
INT
1974 Elf Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 006 Cosworth V8 PRE
2
ROC INT
1975 Elf Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 007 Cosworth V8 ROC
Ret
INT SUI
1976 Elf Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 007 Cosworth V8 ROC
Ret
INT
3
1977 Wolf Racing Wolf WR1 Ford V8 ROC
2
1979 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 312T4 Ferrari Flat-12 ROC GNM DIN
3
1980 Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 312T5 Ferrari Flat-12 ESP
WD
Source:

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Jody Scheckter para niños

  • List of select Jewish racing drivers
kids search engine
Jody Scheckter Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.