German industrialist Günter Schmid brought the Penske PC4 chassis for his newly formed ATS Racing team, set up to participate in the 1977 Formula One season. The team initially fielded a single entry for Jean-Pierre Jarier. He scored a point for sixth place in the team's debut race in the United States. His ninth on the grid at that race was the team's best qualifying with the PC4, which would usually place in the lower half of the grid. The team expanded to two entries later in the season and Hans Heyer made a one-off appearance in the German Grand Prix, famously driving despite failing to qualify. Hans Binder took over for the next three races, qualifying for two of them. ATS discarded its PC4s following the introduction of its own chassis, the ATS HS1, for the final three races of the year.