An IndyCar accident in the year 2000 left Sam Schmidt paralysed and he has been a quadaplegic ever since. He has remained heavily involved in motorsport ever since and his race team has been an IndyCar winner on numerous occasions. At the 2021 Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, he took to the track in a C8 Chevrolet Corvette that had been specially developed by Arrow.
Sam's head movements control the car's steering, while accelaration and braking is achieved by blowing and sucking through a straw. While a track car is a headline-grabbing application for the pioneering technology, the potential to develop it for road use could be transformative to the lives of paralysed people.
Corvette
Sam Schmidt
Video
Festival of Speed
2022
FOS 2022