Sam Schmidt Motorsports

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sam Schmidt Motorsports is an auto racing team in the Indy Racing League owned by quadriplegic former driver Sam Schmidt that currently fields several full-time cars in the Indy Pro Series and a part-time effort in the IndyCar Series. Schmidt formed the team in 2001 after he had recovered from the testing crash that nearly cost him his life, yet he was still unable to drive a race car due to his paralysis. Davey Hamilton began 2001 in the car and drove 5 races, including the team's first Indianapolis 500, ending with an injury at Texas Motor Speedway. He was replaced by Jaques Lazier who drove four races and 3 other drivers who drove a few races each. Richie Hearn made 9 starts for the team in 2002 as he switched between the team's 2 cars, the #99 and #20. Anthony Lazzaro drove in the first three races of the year in the #99, but handed over Indy 500 driving duties to Mark Dismore, who made his only start for the team in that year's '500'. Also, in 2002, the Indy Pro Series was founded and Schmidt eventually refocused its efforts on that series, running only the Indy 500 as its sole IndyCar series race with a car driven from 2003 to 2005 by Hearn and in 2006 by Airton Daré.

Schmidt's Indy Pro Series program has been one of the most successful in the series' short history, winning the 2004 championship with Thiago Medeiros, the 2006 title with Jay Howard, and the 2007 title with Alex Lloyd.