Tomas Scheckter

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Tomas Scheckter
Scheckter in 2010
NationalitySouth Africa South African
Born (1980-09-21) 21 September 1980 (age 43)
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Related toJody Scheckter (father)
Ian Scheckter (uncle)
Toby Scheckter (brother)
IRL IndyCar Series career
Debut season2002
Current teamTeam REDLINE Xtreme
Car number07
Former teamsConquest Racing
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Luczo Dragon Racing
Vision Racing
Panther Racing
Chip Ganassi Racing
Cheever Racing
KV Racing
Starts115
Wins2
Poles8
Best finish7th in 2003

Tomas Scheckter (born 21 September 1980) is a South African former racing driver best known for his time in the IndyCar Series.

Early years[edit]

Scheckter was born in Monte Carlo to 1979 Formula One World Champion Jody Scheckter and his first wife Pamela. Scheckter started racing karts in South Africa at the age of 11 and it did not take long for the young driver to reach the podium. He had his first taste of a major championship as a teenager when he captured the South African Kart Championship in 1995. In 1996 he ventured on to the main circuit in the South African Formula Vee series and soon after he was in the South African Formula Ford Series where he posted two wins.

He had proven his speed in South African motorsports and was then off to Europe the following year where he entered the British Formula Vauxhall Junior series where he raced against the likes of Antônio Pizzonia and Takuma Sato. Scheckter earned third in the championship with one victory and one pole. He was also named series Rookie of the Year.

In 1999, Scheckter won the Formula Opel Euroseries championship with a record eight victories and eight poles, and in the process broke all the winning records previously set by Mika Häkkinen, Rubens Barrichello, and David Coulthard. That success landed him a drive that same year in the last two races of the Formula Nissan championship which Fernando Alonso had dominated that whole season. Even though Scheckter was with a new team for this brief stint in Formula Nissan, he captured a win, two poles and a second-place position.

Scheckter moved on to the Formula 3 Series in 2000, and in his rookie year, he was the runner-up in the British Formula 3 Championship with two victories and two pole positions, while contending again with drivers such as Takuma Sato, Antônio Pizzonia and Narain Karthikeyan. He also had time to race in the prestigious Marlboro Masters F3 race at Zandvoort where he took the third podium position. To complete his year, he competed in the final four races of the FIA Formula 3000 Championship, finishing second at Hockenheim behind future IRL teammate Tomáš Enge.[1] He also raced in the Open Telefónica by Nissan, finishing as championship runner-up.

Scheckter was signed as a test/reserve driver by Jaguar for the 2001 Formula One season, but was soon let go after being found "kerb crawling."[2][3][4][5]

IndyCar Series[edit]

Scheckter watches practice speeds while waiting for his turn to qualify for the 2007 Indy 500. Photo by Tim Wohlford.

2002

Scheckter was signed to drive for Eddie Cheever's Red Bull Cheever Racing in the IndyCar Series for the 2002 season. He was the Indianapolis 500 co-Rookie of the year (with 4th placed Alex Barron) after leading 85 laps of the race. However, Cheever soon grew tired of Scheckter's frequent crashes, and looked to replace him with Buddy Rice. At Michigan International Speedway, Cheever was forced to race Scheckter due to contractual obligations, but gave Rice the best equipment and crew. In the 2002 Michigan Indy 400, Scheckter won by 1.7 seconds over Rice for his first IRL win, while team owner Cheever crashed out. However, he was soon gone from Cheever Racing.

2003-Mid 2005

In 2003, he moved to Target Ganassi Racing with mixed results, often being criticized for his inconsistency and frequency of crashing, finishing well behind title winning teammate Scott Dixon. In 2004 he moved to Panther Racing to replace double champion Sam Hornish Jr. In 2004 and 2005, Scheckter and Panther were the dominant Chevrolet powered team, greatly outpacing other teams powered by what many considered the weakest engine in the series. Scheckter broke through a horrendous string of bad luck, defeating Hornish to win the Bombardier Learjet 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in June 2005 for his second career victory.

Mid 2005-07

In mid-2005, Scheckter was announced as one of the drivers for A1 Team South Africa in the inaugural A1 Grand Prix series. He raced in the rounds at EuroSpeedway Lausitz and Estoril. In 2006, Scheckter drove for Tony George and Patrick Dempsey's Vision Racing alongside teammate Ed Carpenter and finished 10th in points. In 2007, Scheckter again raced for Vision Racing sponsored by Joost. The South African was one of the few drivers that year to challenge the Team Penske, Andretti Green Racing and Target Chip Ganassi Racing drivers on a regular basis during races, on occasion leading races. He ultimately finished 10th in points for the second season in a row with a best finish of fifth.

2008-09

For the 2008 season, Scheckter was scheduled to race for Luczo Dragon Racing in three races: Kansas, Indianapolis, and Infineon. Despite not finishing at Kansas or Indy, Scheckter's runs gave the team additional race time at Texas, Detroit, and Chicagoland. Scheckter failed to return any good results in the additional races despite qualifying well. He did not return to the team in 2009, as it became a full-time team with 2008 Indy Lights champion Raphael Matos. Scheckter was reported to be joining Beck Motorsports, now renamed Team 3G, starting at the 2009 Long Beach race, but the deal never materialized. Scheckter personally secured sponsorship from MonaVie which he shopped to a number of teams, ultimately signing with Dale Coyne Racing for a second week program. He qualified 26th and finished 12th. Later in the 2009 season he returned with the MonaVie sponsorship with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing sharing the #23 car with Milka Duno, who brought her own sponsorship, as well as driving a third car, the #43, in select races.

2010

In 2010, Scheckter once again brought Mona-Vie to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing to drive the #23 car in the Indianapolis 500. Scheckter had a great race, and was in the top for the majority of the race. In the last 20 laps a fuel mileage problem forced Scheckter to conserve fuel and he dropped back to finish 12th. Scheckter's teammate Mike Conway suffered a leg injury in a terrible crash at the Indianapolis 500 and Scheckter was hired to fill in for Conway at Texas and Iowa finished 15th and 19th at each. Later in the year he was hired to drive for Conquest Racing at Chicago and Kentucky. Scheckter finished 28th at Chicago, but after having a surprisingly quick time in practice and qualifying he was accidentally hit from behind by Alex Lloyd in the first 10 laps and made contact with the wall that ended his day. At Kentucky Scheckter struggled getting the car up to speed and finished 14th.

2011

For 2011, Scheckter joined KV-SH Racing and drive the #07 Team Redline Extreme car in the Indianapolis 500. At Loudon, Scheckter would replace the injured Justin Wilson, driving the number 22 car for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Schekter would also drive the number 07 car in Baltimore. For the season's final race in Las Vegas, Scheckter drove the #57 car for Sarah Fisher Racing with Angie's List as the primary sponsor, but the race was red flagged due to a multicar pile up early in the race in which Dan Wheldon was killed.

Personal life[edit]

He is the son of 1979 Formula One World Champion Jody Scheckter and the nephew of racer Ian Scheckter. He also has an older brother named Toby, and a younger brother Hugo, who often updates Tomas's fans through his Twitter page.[6]

In April 2020, Scheckter announced that he had suffered multiple strokes and required a heart operation at the Mayo Clinic.[7] Scheckter currently resides in the United Kingdom.[8]

Motorsports career results[edit]

Career summary[edit]

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F.Laps Podiums Points Position
1998 Formula Vauxhall Junior John Village Automotive 16 1 1 1 1 112 3rd
Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series Martin Donnelly Racing 4 0 ? ? ? 44 6th
1999 EFDA Euroseries AR Motorsport 20 8 7 ? ? 295 1st
Euro Open by Nissan Vergani Racing 2 1 2 0 2 35 12th
2000 International Formula 3000 mySAP.com Team 4 0 0 0 1 6 11th
Italian Formula 3000 ADM Competizione 2 0 0 0 1 6 10th
British Formula Three Championship Stewart Racing Team 14 2 2 3 7 161 2nd
Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 3rd
Macau Grand Prix Swiss Racing Team 1 0 0 0 0 0 6th
Korea Super Prix 1 0 0 0 0 0 7th
French Formula Three Championship 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2001 International Formula 3000 European Minardi F3000 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Euro Formula 3000 Martello Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Open Telefónica by Nissan Vergani Racing 16 4 8 3 11 196 2nd
Formula One Jaguar Racing Test Driver
2002 Indy Racing League Cheever Racing 12 1 3 6 1 210 14th
2003 IndyCar Series Chip Ganassi Racing 16 0 2 2 1 356 7th
2004 IndyCar Series Panther Racing 16 0 0 1 0 230 19th
2005 IndyCar Series Panther Racing 17 1 3 1 3 390 9th
2005–06 A1 Grand Prix A1 Team South Africa 4 0 0 0 0 20 17th
2006 IndyCar Series Vision Racing 14 0 0 1 1 298 10th
2007 IndyCar Series Vision Racing 14 0 0 0 0 357 10th
Rolex Sports Car Series - DP 1 0 0 0 0 14 72nd
2008 IndyCar Series Luczo Dragon Racing 6 0 0 0 0 66 31st
2009 IndyCar Series Dale Coyne Racing 11 0 0 1 0 195 20th
2010 IndyCar Series Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 6 0 0 0 0 89 29th
2011 IndyCar Series Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 3 0 0 0 0 52 32nd

Complete Euro Open by Nissan results[edit]

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points
1999 Vergani Racing ALB
1 		ALB
2 		JER
1 		JER
2 		JAR
1 		JAR
2 		MNZ
1 		MNZ
2 		JAR
1 		JAR
2 		DON
1 		DON
2 		BAR
1 		BAR
2 		VAL
1
1 		VAL
2
2 		12th 35
2001 Vergani Racing JAR
1
10 		JAR
2
3 		EST
1
1 		EST
2
1 		ALB
1
2 		ALB
2
2 		VAL
1
1 		VAL
2
2 		MNZ
1
3 		MNZ
2
2 		MAG
1
5 		MAG
2
2 		BAR
1
1 		BAR
2
Ret 		VAL
1
Ret 		VAL
2
9 		2nd 185

Complete International Formula 3000 results[edit]

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points
2000 MySap.com IMO SIL CAT NÜR MON MAG A1R
18 		HOC
2 		HUN
21 		SPA
DNS 		13th 6
2001 European Minardi F3000 INT IMO CAT A1R MON NÜR MAG SIL HOC
Ret 		HUN SPA MNZ NC 0

Complete Italian/Euro Formula 3000 results[edit]

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points
2000 Da Vinci Team VLL MUG IMO MNZ
2 		VLL DON
8 		PER 10th 6
ADM Competizione MIS
8
2001 Martello Racing VLL PER MNZ DON ZOL IMO NÜR VAL
Ret 		- 0

Complete IndyCar Series results[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year Team Chassis No. Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Rank Points Ref
2002 Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara 52 Infiniti HMS
6 		PHX
24 		FON
24 		NZR
21 		INDY
26 		TXS
17 		PPIR
16 		RIR
4 		KAN
15 		NSH
13 		MIS
1 		KTY
22 		STL
DNS 		CHI TX2 14th 210 [9]
2003 Chip Ganassi Racing G-Force 10 Toyota HMS
8 		PHX
15 		MOT
16 		INDY
4 		TXS
18 		PPIR
8 		RIR
18 		KAN
9 		NSH
10 		MIS
3 		STL
4 		KTY
10 		NZR
19 		CHI
5 		FON
5 		TX2
15 		7th 356 [10]
2004 Panther Racing Dallara 4 Chevrolet HMS
5 		PHX
16 		MOT
13 		INDY
18 		TXS
20 		RIR
17 		KAN
15 		NSH
19 		MIL
21 		MIS
19 		KTY
22 		PPIR
17 		NZR
13 		CHI
19 		FON
15 		TX2
18 		19th 230 [11]
2005 HMS
11 		PHX
17 		STP
17 		MOT
10 		INDY
20 		TXS
1 		RIR
4 		KAN
5 		NSH
17 		MIL
3 		MIS
3 		KTY
21 		PPIR
14 		SNM
16 		CHI
4 		WGL
20 		FON
7 		9th 390 [12]
2006 Vision Racing 2 Honda HMS
9 		STP
12 		MOT
13 		INDY
27 		WGL
10 		TXS
10 		RIR
7 		KAN
7 		NSH
15 		MIL
3 		MIS
5 		KTY
7 		SNM
17 		CHI
10 		10th 298 [13]
2007 HMS
8 		STP
6 		MOT
9 		KAN
5 		INDY
7 		MIL
17 		TXS
14 		IOW
19 		RIR
7 		WGL
13 		NSH
11 		MDO
9 		MIS
11 		KTY
5 		SNM
8 		DET
13 		CHI
20 		10th 357 [14]
2008 Luczo Dragon Racing 12 HMS STP MOT1 LBH1 KAN
23 		INDY
24 		MIL TXS
25 		IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO EDM KTY SNM
27 		DET
21 		CHI
26 		SRF2 31st 66 [15]
2009 Dale Coyne Racing 19 STP LBH KAN INDY
12 		20th 195 [16]
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 23 MIL
13 		IOW
6 		RIR
11 		WGL TOR
16 		EDM
19 		MOT
23
43 TXS
13 		KTY
22 		MDO SNM CHI
8 		HMS
9
2010 23 SAO STP ALA LBH KAN INDY
15 		29th 89 [17]
24 TXS
13 		IOW WGL TOR
15 		EDM
19 		MDO SNM        
Conquest Racing 36                           CHI
28 		KTY
14 		MOT HMS
2011 SH Racing
KV Racing Technology 		07 STP ALA LBH SAO INDY
8 		TXS TX2 MIL IOW TOR EDM MDO             32nd 52 [18]
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 22                         NHM
23 		SNM
SH Racing
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 		07                         BAL
22 		MOT KTY
Sarah Fisher Racing 57                         LVS
C
1 Run on same day.
2 Non-points-paying, exhibition race.
Years Teams Races Poles Wins Podiums
(Non-win) 		Top 10s
(Non-podium) 		Indianapolis 500
Wins 		Championships
10 8 117 8 2 4 38 0 0

Indianapolis 500[edit]

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team Notes
2002 Dallara Infiniti 10 26 Team Cheever Led most laps, crashed in Turn 4
2003 G-Force Toyota 12 4 Chip Ganassi Racing Led the most laps
2004 Dallara Chevrolet 10 18 Panther Racing Running
2005 Dallara Chevrolet 11 20 Panther Racing Accident
2006 Dallara Honda 11 27 Vision Racing Accident
2007 Dallara Honda 10 7 Vision Racing Running
2008 Dallara Honda 11 24 Luczo Dragon Racing Mechanical failure
2009 Dallara Honda 26 12 Dale Coyne Racing Running
2010 Dallara Honda 20 15 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Led 5 laps
2011 Dallara Honda 21 8 SH Racing/KVRT Running

Scheckter started on the fourth row of the Indy 500 his first seven races until 2009, when he qualified 26th.

Complete A1 Grand Prix results[edit]

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points
2005–06 A1 Team South Africa GBR
SPR 		GBR
FEA 		GER
SPR
12 		GER
FEA
Ret 		POR
SPR
10 		POR
FEA
Ret 		AUS
SPR 		AUS
FEA 		MYS
SPR 		MYS
FEA 		UAE
SPR 		UAE
FEA 		RSA
SPR 		RSA
FEA 		IDN
SPR 		IDN
FEA 		MEX
SPR 		MEX
FEA 		USA
SPR 		USA
FEA 		CHN
SPR 		CHN
FEA 		17th 20

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Tomas Scheckter – Biography". TomasScheckter.com. Archived from the original on 30 July 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
  2. ^ Tomas Scheckter fired as Jaguar test-driver, GrandPrix.com, 5 May 2001
  3. ^ Kennedy, David (20 May 2001). "Reality of 'mobile bodyguard' hits Barrichello". Irish Independent. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
  4. ^ "Scheckter's woes may help Courtney's career". The Age. Associated Press. 7 May 2001. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Sports Round-up". The Daily Telegraph. 9 May 2001. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
  6. ^ "Hugo Scheckter". twitter.com. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
  7. ^ Scheckter, Tomas (20 April 2020). "Tomas Scheckter on Twitter". www.twitter.com.
  8. ^ Scheckter, Tomas (20 April 2020). "Tomas Scheckter on Twitter". www.twitter.com.
  9. ^ "Tomas Scheckter – 2002 Indy Racing League Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  10. ^ "Tomas Scheckter – 2003 IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  11. ^ "Tomas Scheckter – 2004 IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  12. ^ "Tomas Scheckter – 2005 IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  13. ^ "Tomas Scheckter – 2006 IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  14. ^ "Tomas Scheckter – 2007 IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  15. ^ "Tomas Scheckter – 2008 IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  16. ^ "Tomas Scheckter – 2009 IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  17. ^ "Tomas Scheckter – 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  18. ^ "Tomas Scheckter – 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.

External links[edit]

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Indianapolis 500
Rookie of the Year
(with Alex Barron)
2002 		Succeeded by
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