Jody Scheckter

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Jody Scheckter
Nationality  South African
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1972 - 1980
Teams	McLaren, Tyrrell, Wolf, Ferrari
Races	113 (111 starts)
Championships	1 (1979)
Wins	10
Podium finishes	33
Career points	246 (255)[1]
Pole positions	3
Fastest laps	5
First race	1972 United States Grand Prix
First win	1974 Swedish Grand Prix
Last win	1979 Italian Grand Prix
Last race	1980 United States Grand Prix

Jody David Scheckter (born January 29, 1950) is a South African former auto racing driver, the 1979 Formula One World Drivers Champion.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Complete Formula One results 2 Notes 3 References

[edit] Career

Scheckter was born in East London, South Africa and educated at Selborne College.

He rapidly ascended to the ranks of Formula One after moving to Britain in 1970. He debuted in Formula One at Watkins Glen in 1972 with McLaren and ran as high as 3rd place before spinning and finishing 9th. Immediately becoming a name to watch, he continued his development the following year, winning the Formula 5000 championship and racing 5 times in F1. In France, he almost won in his third start in F1 before crashing into Emerson Fittipaldi. In his next start, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Scheckter was involved in a big accident which took nearly a dozen cars out of the race, an incident which in many ways summed up his early career. Scheckter's McLaren M23 bore the number zero during the American and Canadian Grands Prix of 1973. Scheckter is one of only two F1 drivers to compete under this number, the other being Damon Hill.

Tyrrell in 1974 gave him his first full-time drive in F1. Jody rewarded them with a 3rd place finish in the drivers' championship and a pair of wins in Sweden and Britain. During the year, he scored points in 8 consecutive races, one of the longer streaks of the time. A slight off-year followed but his third year with the team in 1976 gave him another 3rd place finish in the driver's championship. In that season, Tyrrell introduced the most radical car in F1 history, the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34. Scheckter gave the six-wheeler its only win on Sweden's Anderstorp circuit and in his 12 races with the car, he scored points 10 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 commonly on the podium when he finished, but finished 2nd behind a more dominant Niki Lauda in points. A 7th 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.

Critics felt he would not get along well with management at Ferrari, but he far surpassed expectations and helped give F1's most recognizable team another constructors' championship, while Scheckter's consistent finishes, with three wins among them, gave him the driver's championship in 1979^[2]. However, he struggled very badly in his 1980 title defense, even failing to qualify for one race. After only managing 2 points, Scheckter retired from the team and the sport.

Scheckter was the last driver to win a driver's championship for Ferrari until Michael Schumacher did so 21 years later. After Scheckter's retirement, he founded FATS Inc, a company which built firearms training simulators for military, law enforcement and security organizations. The sale of the company provided funds to allow Scheckter to help the racing careers of his sons Tomas and Toby. Tomas races in the Indy Racing League and held pole position for the 2003 Indianapolis 500. 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.

Scheckter now spends his time as an organic farmer^[3] after buying Laverstoke Park farm, located in Hampshire, 40 miles 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 26 February 2008, he also appeared on the Horizon television show to make a case for organic food.

[edit] Complete Formula One results

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

Yr	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points[1]
1972	Yardley Team McLaren	McLaren M19A	Cosworth V8	ARG	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA 9						-	0
1973	Yardley Team McLaren	McLaren M19A	Cosworth V8	ARG	BRA	RSA 9	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE											-	0
		McLaren M23									FRA Ret	GBR DNS	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

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Up until 1990, not all points scored by a driver contributed to their final World Championship tally (see list of pointscoring systems for more information). Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.
2. ^ F1 Teams & Drivers Hall of Fame: Jody Schekter. Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
3. ^ "Formula One's Jody Scheckter Turns to Meat", foodmanufacture.co.uk, March 1, 2007. 

Preceded by Mario Andretti

Formula One World Champion 1979

Succeeded by Alan Jones

v • d • e Formula One World Drivers' Champions     1950  G. Farina 1951  J.M. Fangio 1952  A. Ascari 1953  A. Ascari 1954  J.M. Fangio 1955  J.M. Fangio 1956  J.M. Fangio 1957  J.M. Fangio 1958  M. Hawthorn 1959  J. Brabham 1960  J. Brabham 1961  P. Hill 1962  G. Hill 1963  J. Clark 1964  J. Surtees 1965  J. Clark 1966  J. Brabham 1967  D. Hulme 1968  G. Hill 1969  J. Stewart 1970  J. Rindt 1971  J. Stewart 1972  E. Fittipaldi 1973  J. Stewart 1974  E. Fittipaldi 1975  N. Lauda 1976  J. Hunt 1977  N. Lauda 1978  M. Andretti 1979  J. Scheckter 1980  A. Jones 1981  N. Piquet 1982  K. Rosberg 1983  N. Piquet 1984  N. Lauda 1985  A. Prost 1986  A. Prost 1987  N. Piquet 1988  A. Senna 1989  A. Prost 1990  A. Senna 1991  A. Senna 1992  N. Mansell 1993  A. Prost 1994  M. Schumacher 1995  M. Schumacher 1996  D. Hill 1997  J. Villeneuve 1998  M. Häkkinen 1999  M. Häkkinen 2000  M. Schumacher 2001  M. Schumacher 2002  M. Schumacher 2003  M. Schumacher 2004  M. Schumacher 2005  F. Alonso 2006  F. Alonso 2007  K. Räikkönen

[edit] References