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Sam Schmidt is the Co-Owner of Arrow McLaren SP, an Indycar racing team comprised of two determined racing entities, McLaren Racing and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. That ambition is shared and supported by title partner Arrow Electronics. Sam grew up working on race cars and in 1997 embarked on his racing career as an Indycar driver. Two years later he took his first win in Las Vegas, and finished 5th in the 1999 championship.
In January of the following year, during off-season testing at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Sam suffered a massive crash. After being airlifted to a nearby hospital he was later diagnosed as a quadriplegic due to a severe injury on the C-3 and C-4 levels of his spinal cord. Despite no longer being able to race himself, Sam showed immense courage as within 14 months of the accident he had created the Conquer Paralysis Now Foundation as well as Sam Schmidt Motorsports, now Arrow McLaren SP.
Mike and Sam cover a ton of great stuff in this episode like the how his father inspired his incredible work ethic, the life-changing crash and self described “hell on earth” experience of being on a ventilator and his transition off of it, his no excuses approach to being a quadriplegic and his high expectations for people with spinal cords injuries, how Arrow Electronics team of engineers created a control system in his car so he could drive a car around Indianapolis Speedway at 150 mph, racing his Arrow Electronics C7 Corvette up legendary and dangerous Pikes Peak, his plans for voice activation controls in his new Arrow Electronics SAM C8 Corvette, how he believes that type of control system and technology can be imbedded industrial applications to help disabled people get back to work, and how the Conquer Paralysis Now Foundation is changing outcomes of people with spinal cord injuries, and much more.
And now here’s Sam Schmidt.
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