Schmidt’s father became paralysed after a road accident, his dream had always been to race the Indianapolis 500. 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, he won Rookie of the Year honors. pole winnerAlex Tagliani, who drove for Schmidt's team In 1997 he 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 the 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. The accident rendered him a quadriplegic, and put him on a respirator for five months. 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 tetraplegicFormula 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.
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.
Schmidt currently serves on the board of directors for BraunAbility, a leading manufacturer of wheelchair accessible vehicles and other mobility solutions.
