Tomas Scheckter

Tomas Scheckter
Scheckter in 2010
Nationality	South African
Born	(1980-09-21) 21 September 1980 (age 43) Monte Carlo, Monaco
Related to	Jody Scheckter (father) Ian Scheckter (uncle) Toby Scheckter (brother)
IRL IndyCar Series career
Debut season	2002
Current team	Team REDLINE Xtreme
Car number	07
Former teams	Conquest Racing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Luczo Dragon Racing Vision Racing Panther Racing Chip Ganassi Racing Cheever Racing KV Racing
Starts	115
Wins	2
Poles	8
Best finish	7th 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

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

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

Scheckter practicing for the 2009 Indianapolis 500

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

Scheckter competing in the 2011 Indianapolis 500

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

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

Career summary

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

(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

(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

(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

(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	MOT 1	LBH 1	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

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

(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

• List of select Jewish racing drivers

References

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

• Official website
• IndyCar Driver Page

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