Ian Scheckter (born August 22, 1947 in
East London, South Africa) is a former
racing driver. He participated in 20
Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on March 30, 1974. He scored no championship points.
The elder brother of 1979 Formula One champion
Jody Scheckter and uncle of IRL racer
Tomas Scheckter, his first F1 races were in the
South African Grand Prix, first driving a
Lotus 72 for locals Team Gunston in 1974. The
following year and also in
1976, he drove a
Tyrrell 007 for Lexington Racing, either side of a couple of European outings for
Williams.
In domestic racing Scheckter came close to ending the run of
Dave Charlton of titles in the
South African National Drivers Championship in 1975, but in his two spells as a full time competitor dominated the championship winning 49 races and equalling
John Love and Charlton's tally of 6 championships.
Securing enough funds for a full season with the
March works F1 team in 1977, he turned in some poor performances, spelling the end of his F1 career. Scheckter's final grand prix would have been the
1977 Japanese Grand Prix but he was detained and then expelled from Japan due to only having a tourist visa in his South African passport and Japanese objections to the South African
apartheid regime.
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(
key)
See also
References
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