5-27-2005
Passion for racing keeps Schmidt going
USA today article
By Gary Graves, USA TODAY
INDIANAPOLIS — Good days and bad days are relative to Sam Schmidt because both still require two hours to get dressed.
More impressive is what the quadriplegic IRL team owner accomplishes by day's end. Schmidt gets in a couple of hours of exercise before heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he'll spend hours tooling around the garage and pits in his motorized wheelchair, yakking it up with drivers and fellow owners and obliging autograph seekers with the fastest pen ever controlled by a mouth.
Other days he's in cities talking with other paralysis patients, using his own life-changing experience to prove that a spinal cord injury isn't life ending. If anything, being paralyzed in a practice accident five years ago in Orlando has given him more purpose than he ever imagined.
"Six months after I got home from rehabilitation I realized I needed something to get me out of bed," says Schmidt, 40. "All the other things I've done in my life business-wise, I just wasn't passionate enough to get back into them as I was about racing.
"Sometimes I wish someone had tried to talk me out of it because of the process, but I tend to jump in with both feet. On the other hand, I hope that I learn from my mistakes and I made a strategic decision to hire the best people and put together the best package possible. When we decided to run full time, it's like a switch went off."
One payoff came last year when driver Thiago Medeiros won the Infiniti Pro Series championship for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. This year he's fielding a three-car effort with Chris Festa, Jaime Camara and Travis Gregg, who enters Friday's Futaba Freedom 100 at the speedway with the points lead.
The biggest reward has been Schmidt's everyday presence this month preparing for his fourth consecutive 500. It was made possible by sponsorship from Coca-Cola and regional grocery chain Meijer, which previously sponsored two-time champion Arie Luyendyk and Robby Gordon.
Driver Richie Hearn qualified 20th in a Panoz/Chevrolet bought from Roger Penske, an encouraging sign because the last time he ran a full month's schedule, in 1996, he finished third. It's a step toward Schmidt's goal of running in the IndyCar Series, and he's making sure not to get too far ahead of himself.
That's a lot to ask of a guy who traveled as many as 220 days in 2002; it fell to 130 last year because Schmidt wanted to spend more time at his Henderson, Nev., home with wife Sheila and children Savannah and Spencer. He still travels a lot, speaking in behalf of spinal injury research while trying to raise money for his Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation.
Slow and easy also seem contradictory for a guy who was back in racing 14 months after his paralyzing wreck. In the early stages Schmidt even told his wife he wanted to run the 500 again.
That confirmed racing was in his heart, and late actor Christopher Reeve did the rest by touching Schmidt's soul. Reeve, who died in October, was Schmidt's role model for resuming his career after Reeve was paralyzed in a 1995 horse jumping accident and became an advocate for spinal cord research.
He also credits former drag racer Darrell Gwynn, a quadriplegic who organizes a number of activities.
"I looked at the big picture," says Schmidt, who met Reeve in 2001. "He raised $10 million (for research), and he and Darrell showed me what to do and how to do it.
"They're the reason I started the foundation."
Judging from the turnout at last week's charity dinner and auction, Schmidt followed orders. The event raised $232,000 for the foundation and the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana, and he was as much an attraction as the several drivers attending.
"He's someone who has kept me hopeful and optimistic," said Indianapolis resident Amber O'Haver, 27, an incomplete quadriplegic. "His continued support of spinal cord research has taught me to never give up and look forward to the future — the very near future."
Given Schmidt's progress in gaining movement in his shoulders, Hearn says he wouldn't be shocked if his friend and boss walked someday.
"I think the technology and the research is there, it just needs to be perfected," Hearn says. "The way he trains and exercises, when the time comes he'll be ready."
First there's the matter of getting out of bed. Schmidt's nurse arrives at dawn and puts him in a Hoyer swing and then in a specially designed chair for what he calls his "drive-through shower" before getting dressed. An assistant comes in at 8 a.m. for a few hours of therapy before he departs for errands and appointments.
Schmidt is still adapting to the routine, but he gets in about 35 hours of therapy a week. The easiest task appears to be autograph signing, displaying penmanship better than some have with their hands.
Then again Schmidt is a quick study, a man who started two of three 500s in the top 10. In 1999 he succeeded Luyendyk at Treadway Racing and went on to win the Las Vegas race from the pole, entering the finale with a shot at the championship.
His hopes ended when another driver caused a wreck that injured Schmidt's feet, but he soon was back on the track preparing for the next season when he backed into the wall at Disney World. This comeback is still in progress, yet the resolve displayed the last five years has created a profile his driving career might never have, and maybe that was the plan all along.
Though Schmidt is flattered when called an inspiration, his simple wish is to be viewed as a competitor. That desire makes every hour spent getting up worth it.
"I'm just an owner who wants to win a championship," he says. "I get letters from people saying they broke their arm and ask me what they should do, and it's hard for me to hear that I'm their inspiration. But those letters help get me out of bed."
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