Born in East London, Cape Province, Scheckter rose rapidly through South African and British club racing before making his Formula One debut at the 1972 United States Grand Prix for McLaren. His early reputation was that of an aggressive, sometimes reckless talent: at the 1973 French Grand Prix he nearly won in only his third start before crashing into reigning champion Emerson Fittipaldi, who subsequently described him as a menace. Weeks later at the 1973 British Grand Prix, a Scheckter spin triggered a multi-car accident that took nearly a dozen cars out of the race. The Grand Prix Drivers Association demanded his banishment, and McLaren agreed to stand him down for four races.
The aftermath of witnessing François Cevert's fatal accident at the 1973 United States Grand Prix — Scheckter was directly behind Cevert when he was killed — left a profound impression and contributed to a marked maturation in his driving approach.
Tyrrell gave Scheckter his first full-time Formula One drive in 1974. He claimed his maiden victory at the Swedish Grand Prix and went on to win the British Grand Prix before his championship challenge was ultimately derailed by a brake failure in Canada. He finished third in the standings. In 1975 he won his home race in South Africa with authority, passing Carlos Pace on lap three and leading every subsequent lap.
The 1976 season brought the most radical machine of his career: the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34. Scheckter delivered the P34 its only Grand Prix win at the Swedish Grand Prix and took further podiums in Monaco, Britain, Germany, and the United States, finishing third in the championship. Despite the results he later dismissed the car as "a piece of junk" and left Tyrrell at the end of the year. He remains the only driver to have won a Formula One Grand Prix in a six-wheeled car.
Scheckter joined the new Walter Wolf Racing team for 1977 and delivered it a win on its very first race, in Argentina. He added victories in Monaco and Canada and accumulated nine podiums across the season, finishing runner-up to Niki Lauda. The 1978 season was considerably harder as the Wolf WR5 proved uncompetitive; Scheckter's best result was a pair of second places in Germany and Canada. After finishing seventh in the championship he left Wolf to sign with Ferrari alongside Gilles Villeneuve.
The 1979 season opened with Scheckter and Villeneuve achieving a Ferrari 1-2 in South Africa once the competitive 312T4 was introduced. Scheckter won at Zolder and Monte Carlo before a popular victory at Monza, Ferrari's home circuit, clinched the Drivers' Championship with two races remaining. It was the first World Championship won by an African driver, and it would prove the last for Ferrari until Michael Schumacher in 2000.
The 1980 title defence was a miserable contrast. The 312T5 was deeply uncompetitive and Scheckter managed only two points all season, at one point failing to qualify. He retired from the sport at the end of the year, later explaining: "One or two drivers were dying every year, I'd won the championship and the magic was gone."
After retiring from Formula One, Scheckter worked as a pit reporter for CBS and ABC before founding a weapons simulation business in 1984, Firearms Training Systems, whose revenue exceeded £100 million by the early 1990s. He subsequently purchased Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire, England — 2,500 acres farmed using biodynamic principles — and became a recognised figure in the organic food sector. His sons Toby and Tomas both pursued racing careers; Tomas won two races in the Indy Racing League. His elder brother Ian also competed in Formula One.
Scheckter's career encapsulates a specific era of Formula One in which raw aggression, disciplined by hard experience and personal loss, could produce a World Champion. His mastery of the Tyrrell P34's unconventional layout, his consistent results at Wolf on a limited budget, and his controlled championship campaign at Ferrari made him one of the era's most complete drivers. He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.