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Legendary is one word to describe the man that is Sam Schmidt. In the racing world, Sam Schmidt is a storied name. In the disability world, Sam Schmidt is a storied name. He makes an impact in whichever world he exists, which is exactly why he is the perfect person for our SCI Superstar series.
He may have lived with C3-4 quadriplegia for 17 years, but that doesn’t define who he is. Born into a family with racing in its blood, he started racing competitively when he was just five, and Sam’s injury has only changed the way he enjoys his life’s passion. Read on to see the ingenious ways this husband, father and businessman has re-purposed one of the things he loves most.
Why He’s Fearless
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska and growing up in southern California, Sam was raised by a father who loved to race. He grew up working on race cars and his father competed in drag races, super modified and off-road until he was 10 years old. Even though he stopped racing after his father was injured (one side of his body became paralyzed), Sam’s fierce love for the sport never wavered. After graduating from Pepperdine University with an MBA in International Finance, he found himself back in the racing world. Working his way up through the ranks, he qualified for his first Indycar competition in 1997, and he won his first IndyCar race two years later in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas in 1999, ”My peak,” he likes to say.
Three months after winning his first IndyCar race in Orlando while practicing at the Walt Disney world speedway, he hit the wall and crushed his C3-4 vertebrae. His parents, wife Sheila and their two children, Spencer and Savannah, rallied to his side. They remain a close family until this day.
After his injury, Sam knew he needed to keep busy, which is why within a year of his injury he founded a racing team to compete in Indy Lights and IndyCar in 2001. In 2013, he teamed up with Ric Peterson. They accumulated over 70 wins, 70 pole positions and seven championship wins.
After running his racing team for 13 years, Sam was contacted by Arrow Electronics, a company based in Colorado, who wanted to develop a semi-autonomous car specifically around Sam’s abilities. Once he verified it was safe, Sam was all in. Within months, they worked together to create an amazing piece of technology – a complete mouth and head control system that allows Sam to drive a Corvette.
In 2014, Sam first tested the car at a raceway in Indianapolis. The feeling of being behind the wheel again under his own power was unlike anything he’s felt since before his injury he says. To drive, he wears a pair of special sunglasses that are tracked by six cameras in the vehicle. By turning his head left or right, Sam can steer the car. He jokes he needed to retrain his mind to not look around while driving, as to not steer himself off the road.
To accelerate, Sam blows into a straw. To brake, he sucks on the straw. He also uses voice commands to control other functions. Sam says he never thought he’d be able to drive again, but now “just driving again” is going much further than that.
What’s next?
After he drove the first time post-injury on April 7, 2014, Sam wanted take the car out as much as possible. He demoed the car at Long Beach Grand Prix circuit in 2014, and impressed everyone at the Indy 500 in 2016 when he drove a new version of the car, taking it up to 152 mph in a demonstration before the race.
Sam still wanted more. In 2016, he also participated in Pikes Peak Hill Climb in Colorado, a 13 mile hill climb with over 150 turns which he completed in just 15 minutes.
And Sam’s most impressive driving feat? The team at Arrow Electronics worked out an agreement with the Nevada DMV to create a special drivers license so Sam could drive on the streets. Sam is the first person in the US to receive a special drivers license for driving a semi-autonomous vehicle. He’s however to have a co-driver with him whenever he drives.
Driving and running racing team however are just some of his life passions. His other passion is raising money for spinal cord injury research with his foundation, Conquer Paralysis Now, which has been going strong for decades and has raised millions of dollars for research.
Whether it’s driving fast cars or raising money for a SCI cure, Sam is a man in motion. He won’t be stopped nor has he slowed down, and the SCI community loves him for it.
ideas@spinalpedia.com
