1126: Sam Schmidt is a former IndyCar driver.

Sam Schmidt is a former IndyCar driver and the current co-owner of Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports in Indianapolis, Indiana. He grew up working on racecars and his father was a drag racer. At the age of 32, he embarked on his first season of IndyCar competition and he became a pole and race winner in 1999. Sam was severely injured in a testing accident at Walt Disney World Speedway and was later diagnosed as a quadriplegic due to a severe injury to his spinal cord. Sam was not deterred and he forged on to create The Conquer Paralysis Now Foundation and Sam Schmidt Motorsports, just 14 months after his accident. Despite Sam remaining paralyzed from his chest down, he has been granted a drivers license, the first of its kind, which allows him to drive a semi-autonomous vehicle.