DOWN, BUT NOT OUT: Schmidt racing for a cure

By TODD DEWEY

VIEW STAFF WRITER

Sam Schmidt hopes to walk again one day. He created the Sam Schmidt Foundation to help himself -- and others -- realize that dream.

Schmidt, a former Indy Racing League driver, was paralyzed from the neck down in an accident at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla., in January.

However, it didn't take long for Schmidt -- who won his first career IRL race in Las Vegas last September -- to set his sights on the checkered flag in the race to cure paralysis.

Schmidt, 35, was still in intensive care when he decided to start the Sam Schmidt Foundation.

"When I was in ICU in Orlando after the accident, my best friend and I were talking about ways to turn this thing into a positive. We'd heard of the Christopher Reeve Foundation," he said. "I've got the ultimate goal of walking again, and the only way I'm going to reach that goal is by helping to fund some research, and help other people at the same time."

Schmidt, who has lived in Henderson the last five years, said his foundation expects to reach its goal of raising $500,000 this year.

Schmidt hosted a pair of successful fund-raisers in Indianapolis -- a VIP dinner and a golf tournament held the week of the Indianapolis 500 -- and recently presided over a HallowEve benefit at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.

The dinner and after-party featured appearances by several renowned racecar drivers, including two-time Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk, NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, Davey Hamilton and others.

"The support of the entire motorsports community has just been overwhelming," Schmidt said. "It takes an event like this to see who your real friends are and I can't say enough about all the people and everything they've done to support the foundation and support the events. Everyone's come out of the woodwork. They've all been really supportive."

Schmidt, whose biggest boosters are wife Sheila and children Savannah (3 years old) and Spencer (15 months), said the support he has received keeps him going.

"I'd be lying if I didn't say I occasionally wonder 'why me?' or 'what's the reasoning behind this?,'" he said. "But I'm really fortunate because I have a great support system, and with so many cards and letters and so many people urging me on, I feel like I've got to do my best to get over it and depression doesn't affect me that much.

"I have a fantastic family, a super wife and kids and everyone supporting me every day makes it a whole lot easier."

Schmidt's family moved to St. Louis for six months to be by his side as he worked on his rehabilitation. He has continued to work out at home in Henderson, where he has been since late June.

"I do four to five hours a day of physical therapy," Schmidt said. "I actually feel pretty good."

Schmidt said the local support he has received has been incredible.

"We really appreciate the support of all the local people," he said. "All their cards and letters have helped make things easy locally for us since we've been back."

Schmidt, who has some movement in his shoulders and upper arms, stays busy with his foundation and physical therapy.

"It's pretty much a full-time job," he said. "The short-term goal is just to get the foundation established and decide what the foundation's goals are and where we want to spend the money to be the most efficient and diligent in that effort. The long-term goal is to walk again."

Those interested in the Sam Schmidt Foundation can call (317) 387-0888 or visit www.samschmidt.org.