Tomas Scheckter
Tomas Scheckter is a South African former racing driver.
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. 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."
IndyCar Series
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 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.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.
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.
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.
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.
For 2011, Scheckter joined KV-SH Racing and drive the #07 Team Redline Extreme car in the Indianapolis 500. 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
He is the son of 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.In April 2020, Scheckter announced that he had suffered multiple strokes and required a heart operation at the Mayo Clinic. Scheckter currently resides in the United Kingdom.
Motorsports career results
Complete Euro Open by Nissan results
| 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
| 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 IndyCar Series results
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Rank | Points |
| 2002 | Red Bull Cheever Racing | Dallara | 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 | ||||
| 2003 | Chip Ganassi Racing | G-Force | 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 | |||
| 2004 | Panther Racing | Dallara | 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 | |||
| 2005 | Panther Racing | Dallara | Chevrolet | 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 | ||
| 2006 | Vision Racing | Dallara | 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 | |||||
| 2007 | Vision Racing | Dallara | Honda | 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 | ||
| 2008 | Luczo Dragon Racing | Dallara | Honda | 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 |
| 2009 | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara | Honda | STP | LBH | KAN | INDY 12 | 20th | 195 | |||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Dallara | Honda | MIL 13 | TXS 13 | IOW 6 | RIR 11 | WGL | TOR 16 | EDM 19 | KTY 22 | MDO | SNM | CHI 8 | MOT 23 | HMS 9 | 20th | 195 | ||||||
| 2010 | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Dallara | Honda | SAO | STP | ALA | LBH | KAN | INDY 15 | TXS 13 | IOW | WGL | TOR 15 | EDM 19 | MDO | SNM | 29th | 89 | ||||||
| 2010 | Conquest Racing | Dallara | Honda | CHI 28 | KTY 14 | MOT | HMS | 29th | 89 | |||||||||||||||
| 2011 | SH Racing KV Racing Technology | Dallara | Honda | STP | ALA | LBH | SAO | INDY 8 | TXS | TX2 | MIL | IOW | TOR | EDM | MDO | 32nd | 52 | |||||||
| 2011 | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Dallara | Honda | NHM 23 | SNM | 32nd | 52 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | SH Racing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Dallara | Honda | BAL 22 | KTY | 32nd | 52 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | Sarah Fisher Racing | Dallara | Honda | LVS C | 32nd | 52 |
| Years | Teams | Races | Poles | Wins | Podiums | Top 10s | Indianapolis 500 Wins | Championships |
| 10 | 8 | 117 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 38 | 0 | 0 |
Indianapolis 500
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
| 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 |