Jody Scheckter

When he arrived in F1 at the end of 1972, Jody was a rough talent, who relied on his reflexes to get his car around corners. By the time he retired, he was smoother, but just as exciting to watch. Jody started his F1 career with McLaren, and after some promising results, including almost winning the French Grand Prix, only his third F1 start, he was responsible for the biggest pile up in F1 history at Silverstone. For 1974, he joined Tyrrell, and settled down to become a title contender, finishing third that season. In 1976, Scheckter and team mate Patrick Depailler had use of one of the most radical racing cars ever, the Tyrrell P34, better known as the '6 wheeler.' Although the car was competitive, Jody realized it would only temporarily be so, and he left Tyrrell to join Wolf in 1977, winning their first ever race in Argentina, and winning twice more to finish second in the championship behind Niki Lauda. Scheckter joined Ferrari and partnered the fiery Canadian Gilles Villeneuve, just holding him off to win the 1979 world title, the last time a driver would win the championship in one of the red cars for 21 years. Jody retired from F1 at the end of 1980, and set up a successful arms business. He has two sons, Tomas and Toby, both hoping to become racers in the future.