Samuel Schmidt (born August 15, 1964) is a former Indy Racing League driver and NTT IndyCar Series and Indy Lights series team owner. Schmidt's brief IndyCar career included a win in 1999, but an accident before the 2000 season left him a quadriplegic. Schmidt was a co-owner of the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team.
Racing career
After graduating from Pepperdine University, Schmidt became a successful businessman, eventually purchasing his father's parts company in 1989 at the age of 25. He raced at a competitive amateur level, supported by his business income, but dreamed of someday driving in the Indianapolis 500. Schmidt first drove professionally in 1995 in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series at the age of 31, where he won Rookie of the Year honors.
In 1997 Schmidt made his first Indy Racing League start and became a rising star in the league. He raced three consecutive years at the Indianapolis 500, and earned his first race victory, from pole position, at Las Vegas in 1999. He finished fifth in series points that year. During that offseason, while testing in preparation for the 2000 season, Schmidt crashed at Walt Disney World Speedway on January 6, 2000.1 The accident rendered him a quadriplegic, and put him on a respirator for five months.2
After leaving the hospital, Schmidt, no longer able to drive a racecar, realized he needed to find a new passion and follow it. Inspired by meeting tetraplegic Formula One team owner Sir Frank Williams, he founded Sam Schmidt Motorsports, which has become the most successful team in the history of the Indy Lights series, winning the 2004 series championship with Thiago Medeiros, the 2006 title with Jay Howard, and the 2007 title with Alex Lloyd. Sam Schmidt Motorsports was a full-time IndyCar series team in 2001 and 2002, and continues to participate annually in the Indianapolis 500. In the Firestone Indy Lights series, as of August 2009 the team had posted 30 victories out of 100 starts.
After acquiring the FAZZT Race Team IndyCar team in 2011, Sam Schmidt Motorsports returned full-time to the IZOD IndyCar Series, and on May 21, 2011, driver Alex Tagliani won the pole position for the Indianapolis 500, the first pole for the team.
Career results
Indy Racing League
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Team | Chassis | No. | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | Blueprint Racing | Dallara IR7 | 16 | Oldsmobile Aurora V8 | NHM | LVS | WDW | PHX10 | INDY34 | TXS23 | PPI | 27th | 76 | 3 | ||||
| LP Racing | 99 | CLT18 | NH222 | LV227 | ||||||||||||||
| 1998 | LP Racing | Dallara IR8 | Oldsmobile Aurora V8 | WDW9 | PHX7 | INDY26 | TXS18 | NHM12 | DOV17 | CLT14 | PPIR13 | ATL15 | TX227 | LVS2 | 14th | 186 | 4 | |
| 1999 | Treadway Racing | G-Force GF01C | Oldsmobile Aurora V8 | WDW27 | PHX9 | CLTC1 | INDY30 | TXS3 | PPI2 | ATL22 | DOV5 | PP25 | LVS1 | TX222 | 5th | 233 | 5 |
Other
- Schmidt won $16,350 on Press Your Luck over the course of three episodes between January 2–4, 1985.678
- He established the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation to further the cause of paralysis research, treatment and quality-of-life issues.
- He was helped by Arrow Electronics to drive again by creating a 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray that is controlled with head movement, voice commands, and by mouth sip/puff actions.910
- Schmidt currently serves on the board of directors for BraunAbility, a leading manufacturer of wheelchair accessible vehicles and other mobility solutions.
- Schmidt is co-owner of Speed Vegas motorpark.11
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sam Schmidt.- Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Archived 2015-09-06 at the Wayback Machine
- Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation
References
Macur, Juliet (January 19, 2000). "Crash at Disney paralyzes IRL driver". The Orlando Sentinel. p. 19. Retrieved August 14, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22795022/sam_schmidt/ ↩
[1], Sam's story, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, may 21, 2014 (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqjcxJiPX9M ↩
"Sam Schmidt – 1997 Indy Racing League Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 6, 2023. https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/schmisa01/1997/O/ ↩
"Sam Schmidt – 1998 Pep Boys Indy Racing League Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 6, 2023. https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/schmisa01/1998/O/ ↩
"Sam Schmidt – 1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 6, 2023. https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/schmisa01/1999/O/ ↩
Press Your Luck Episode 332 Cydney/Sam/Jill. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5jT0_8Zlg0 ↩
Press Your Luck #333. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw8I70c1Lvc ↩
Press Your Luck Episode 334 Sam/Rick/Esmeralda. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF0oh0P9UKs ↩
Wesley Wren (26 September 2016). "Sam Schmidt will get the first semi-autonomous driver's license". Autoweek. Retrieved 19 May 2018. http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/sam-schmidt-will-get-first-semi-autonomous-drivers-license ↩
Weaver, Matt (13 May 2017). "Paralyzed Sam Schmidt set to race 77-year-old Mario Andretti at Indianapolis". Autoweek. Retrieved 19 May 2018. http://autoweek.com/article/indycar/paralyzed-sam-schmidt-set-race-77-year-old-mario-andretti-indianapolis ↩
"SpeedVegas critic now CEO of high-speed operation". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2021-12-18. Retrieved 2025-04-28. https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/speedvegas-critic-now-ceo-of-high-speed-operation-2498986/ ↩