Racing career

After graduating from Pepperdine University, he 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. He first drove professionally in 1995 in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series at the age of 31 which, by racing standards, is an unusually old age to begin a professional career. Nonetheless, he won Rookie of the Year honors.

In 1997 he made his first IRL start and became a rising star in the league, raced in 3 consecutive Indianapolis 500's, and netted his first victory from the pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1999, finishing 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. The accident rendered him a quadriplegic, and put him on a respirator for five months.

After leaving the hospital, Schmidt, no longer able to actually 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.

Serious accidents involving team drivers

Since becoming a team owner, several drivers hired by Schmidt Motorsports have been involved in fatal and near-fatal accidents. Driver Dan Wheldon was killed in October 2011 during a race in Las Vegas.

Driver Mikhail Aleshin suffered critical injuries requiring a two-week hospitalization as the result of an accident during practice for an August 2014 race in Fontana. In May 2015, driver James Hinchcliffe received life-threatening injuries during a crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Other

• Schmidt won $16,350 on Press Your Luck over the course of three episodes between January 2-4, 1985.
• He established the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation to further the cause of paralysis research, treatment and quality-of-life issues.

Career results

American Open-Wheel

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
1996-1997	Blueprint Racing	NHM	LVS	WDW	PHX	IND	TXS	PPI					27th	76
	LP Racing								CLT	NH2	LV2
1998	LP Racing/PCI	WDW	PHX	INDY	TXS	NHM	DOV	CLT	PPI	ATL	TX2	LVS	14th	186
1999	Treadway Racing	WDW	PHX	CLT	INDY	TXS	PPI	ATL	DOV	PP2	LVS	TX2	5th	233

1 The 1999 VisionAire 500K at Charlotte was cancelled after 79 laps due to spectator fatalities.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]