Walter Wolf's Winning Debut

A Canadian businessman's team won the first race it entered under its own name and carried Jody Scheckter to second in the 1977 championship.

Walter Wolf, a Slovenian born Canadian businessman, began appearing in the Formula One paddock in 1975. The following year he bought a majority stake in Frank Williams Racing Cars, kept Frank Williams as manager, and also bought the assets of the departed Hesketh team. The combined operation raced in 1976 as Wolf Williams, using cars developed from the Hesketh design, but it was not competitive.

For 1977 Wolf restructured. He replaced Williams with Peter Warr from Team Lotus, and Williams left to start his own team with Patrick Head. Harvey Postlethwaite designed a simple Cosworth powered car, the WR1, and Wolf hired Jody Scheckter from Tyrrell. The new Walter Wolf Racing, based at Reading in England but racing with a Canadian license, won its very first race, the 1977 Argentine Grand Prix, as several faster cars ahead of Scheckter retired.

Scheckter won twice more that season, at Monaco and in Canada, and finished second in the drivers' championship behind Niki Lauda, while Wolf placed fourth among the constructors. The 1978 cars were less successful, though Scheckter still reached the podium, and he left for Ferrari at the end of the year.

James Hunt drove for the team in 1979 but retired midway through the season, and Keke Rosberg took his place. At the end of that year Wolf sold the team to Wilson and Emerson Fittipaldi, who merged it into Fittipaldi Automotive. Its last race was the 1979 United States Grand Prix. In three seasons as Walter Wolf Racing it started 47 World Championship races and won three, all with Scheckter in 1977.

Drivers

• Arturo Merzario
• Keke Rosberg