Paralysed Indy driver races in hi-tech car

GOODWOOD, England (Reuters) — Since the age of five, Sam Schmidt’s ambition was to be an Indycar champion. And he achieved it, winning at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1999. A glorious racing career beckoned.

But months later, on Jan. 6, 2000, Schmidt crashed during a practice lap at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, severely injuring his spinal cord.

Doctors told him he would likely be on a ventilator for the rest of his life. He was off the ventilator in six weeks, but was diagnosed as a quadriplegic — paralysed from the neck down.

“It was my passion my entire life and then this happens and it kind of turns things upside down,” Schmidt told Reuters.

While the prospect of him racing again was gone, Schmidt founded Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2001. His team, now known as Arrow Mclaren SP, has won 12 IndyCar races.

Still, the urge to race prompted Schmidt to embark on an exciting proposition: building a race car that he could drive despite his disability.

Beginning in 2013 and working with engineers from tech company Arrow Electronics, the result is the SAM Car — SAM standing for “semiautonomous mobility”.

“Arrow came along with this idea of building a car for somebody that can’t use their arms and legs. And it was an amazing experience,” Schmidt said.

“What I didn’t anticipate was this overwhelming feeling of normalcy because I was in control. And literally to that point in my life, there was really not a lot that I controlled. I needed help for everything. So the fact that I’m steering it, I’m using the brake and the gas and going as fast as I want is exhilarating. So it’s fantastic.”

On July 8 the latest version of the SAM Car — a modified a V8 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray — took to the legendary racecourse at Goodwood in southern England, driven by Schmidt himself.

He steers via a racing hat and sunglasses fitted with infrared sensors, which are motiontracked by infrared cameras mounted on the dashboard to detect his head movements.

To accelerate and brake Schmidt uses his breath, inhaling and exhaling through a “sip-and-puff” pressure sensor.