Hits A Brick Wall In Auto Racing
Big time auto racing is a rich man’s sport. It is also a closed world, not easily accessible to outsiders trying to get in. Said one racing fan, “It is possible to race cars as an expensive hobby. But to make a go out of it on a full time basis, big money is a must.” And to get big money one must go out and get sponsors, a task which isn’t easy.
Are there any deaf racers in auto racing? Yes, one is a racer in Northern California. Another one is a racer in South Dakota. Are there any deaf Jews in auto racing? Yes, there is one – Jaki Scheckter of South Africa, an oralist who does not use sign language.
And Jaki is an interesting story. He comes from a prominent South African racing family; his father Ian and his uncle Jody were professional racers. It was the uncle Jody who was one of the world’s most famous racers in the sixties before he called it quits. Jody, who is still legendary as time goes by, was the last driver to win a Formula One race in a Ferrari.
Jaki, who grew up watching his father and uncle race cars, became a promising racer himself several years ago. He made such a great impression on the Indy Lights racing circuit that a major sponsor-Newport Cigarettes signed him to a contract. Landing a major sponsor is a feat that practically all rookie racers pine for but do not succeed.
On the 1955 Indy Lights circuit at such cities as Detroit, Milwaukee, and Portland, Jaki did relatively well, finishing 11th of 24 cars in one race; finishing 7th of 18 cars in another race, and so on. And at one point he was the leading money earner among top 15 drivers at the Barber Dodge Pro Series. Jaki was doing so well that he had a public relations firm sending out press releases on him for major media outlets.
Right now Jaki is back in South Africa, his racing career in mothballs. At best he is facing an uncertain future, with racing debts of half million dollars facing him.
What happened? Things did not work out. Details are murky; no one knows the exact story. But there was speculation that he failed to cultivate contacts with sponsors beyond Newport Cigarettes, which has since dropped him. One racing fan who knew him well said “Jaki did not have the clout and the social skills to intermingle with potential sponsors. He was just a born racer, and not a politician or even a diplomat.”
The fan continued Jaki had the name, Scheckter, and it was an advantage for him. Unfortunately he never learned to capitalize on it.”
Will Jaki come back? Possibly as racing is too much in his blood. But there is an obstacle – must pay off racing debts first. Racing debts? Yes. As mentioned previously, auto racing is one of the most expensive sports in the sporting world. This is the reason racing automobiles are splattered with sponsors’ logos. A typical car may have as many as ten logos from such sponsors as Budweiser, DuPont, Prestone, Gatorade, etc. If one fan thinks each car is a walking billboard, then this assumption is correct.
Jaki needed to go after these sponsors, but it was said he didn’t.
Perhaps because of his deafness he was too shy to go after them. Instead he probably hoped they would come to him, but they didn’t.
A racing team could just scrape by with three million dollars, good for one season only. A team with 4.5 to 5.0 million dollars would be comfortably but not much so, funded. A team with 8.0 to 10.0 million dollars would be in sparkplug heaven!
Looking on the positive side, we should not count out Jaki. Sportsmen have been known to bounce back after going through problems. Perhaps he would need to create a syndicate of investors in South Africa fund another racing season for him. After all, South Africa is one of the world’s most sports-crazy nations.
