Jody David Scheckter (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 with

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

. Scheckter remains the only African driver to win the Formula One World Championship.

Career

Scheckter was born in

East London, Eastern Cape East London ( xh, eMonti; af, Oos-Londen) is a city on the southeast coast of South Africa in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality of the Eastern Cape province. The city lies on the Indian Ocean coast, largely between the Buffalo River ...

, and educated at

Selborne College Selborne College is a semi-private English medium male-only high school situated in the suburb of Selborne (the suburb was named after the school) of East London in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa; it is one of the few colleges in the ...

and Hudson Park High School.

Formula One

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 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

with

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

, 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 The 1973 SCCA L&M Championship was the seventh annual running of the Sports Car Club of America's professional open wheel racing series. The championship, which was open to Formula 5000 cars,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 Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

, 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

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 Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

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 Anderstorp () is a locality situated in Gislaved Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 4,965 inhabitants in 2010. Scandinavian Raceway, which hosted the Swedish Grand Prix Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is ...

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 Walter Wolf (born 5 October 1939) is a Canadian oil-drilling equipment supplier who in the early 1970s made a fortune from the North Sea oil business and decided to join the world of Formula One (F1) motor racing. Life and career Wolf was bo ...

'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

to partner Gilles Villeneuve in the team's ground effect 312T4 car. Jody Scheckter 1979 Monaco

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 one race. 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 .

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 The 1983 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 15 May 1983. It was the fifth race of the 1983 Formula One World Championship. The 76-lap race was won by Finnish driver Keke Rosberg, driving a Williams-Ford, with Braz ...

. Scheckter was a guest commentator for ITV during the

1999 San Marino Grand Prix The 1999 San Marino Grand Prix (formally the Gran Premio Warsteiner di San Marino 1999) was a Formula One motor race held at Imola on 2 May 1999. It was the third race of the 1999 Formula One World Championship. The 62-lap race was won by German ...

, 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 Gaétan T. Boucher, (born May 10, 1958), is a Canadian former speed skating Olympic champion. Biography Boucher first trained in ice hockey, the leading sport in Canada but then changed to speed skating after winning a national title in 1972. ...

and

Andy Ripley Andrew George Ripley OBE (1 December 1947 – 17 June 2010) was an English rugby union international, who represented England from 1972 to 1976, and the Lions on their unbeaten 1974 tour of South Africa. Early life Ripley was born in Liverp ...

. In 1983, he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. After Scheckter's retirement, he founded

FATS Inc Fats or FATS may refer to: * More than one type of fat, one of the three main macronutrients, along with carbohydrate and protein People with the nickname "Fats" * Harmonica Fats (1927–2000), American blues harmonica player who was active in th ...

, 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 Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

, 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

Laverstoke Park Farm Laverstoke Park Farm is a farm near Overton, Hampshire, England, owned by 1979 Formula One World Champion, Jody Scheckter. Background The farm is in size and follows biodynamic principles. It has cows, sheep and notably water buffalo along wi ...

, near Overton, Hampshire, 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 Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

: 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 Biodynamics may refer to: * Biodynamic agriculture, a method of farming based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner ** The Biodynamic Association, a United States-based company that promotes the Biodynamic agriculture system ** Biodynamic wine, wine ...

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

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

Formula One non-championship results

(

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheckter, Jody 1950 births Living people Sportspeople from East London, Eastern Cape South African Jews White South African people South African racing drivers South African Formula One drivers Ferrari Formula One drivers McLaren Formula One drivers Tyrrell Formula One drivers Wolf Formula One drivers Formula One World Drivers' Champions Formula One race winners European Formula Two Championship drivers International Race of Champions drivers Alumni of Selborne College South African businesspeople South African farmers Formula Ford drivers People from Overton, Hampshire