Rear View: Schmidt on own Indy 500 record

The life and times of Sam Schmidt the racecar driver is deeply overshadowed by all the success he's achieved as a team owner, and that's a shame.

A talented racer who cut his teeth at the bottom rung of what we know today as the Mazda Road to Indy, Schmidt made waves in USF2000 during its competitive explosion in the 1990s. Next came an inspired leap directly to the Indy Racing League. No Atlantics, no Indy Lights; Schmidt traded 160hp four-cylinder engines and 140mph for 700hp V8s and 220mph at Indy.

Bravery, as you might suspect by now, was never in short supply with Schmidt. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of his first Indy 500 start, the IndyCar team owner reflected on his early days in the sport and the three runs at Indianapolis that followed.

"It was a good time," he said. "F2000 was 30, 35 cars strong and there was ... I wouldn't say an absolutely clear path to IndyCar, but you had F2000, Atlantic and IndyCar. But about the time I was supposed to go to Atlantic racing, the IRL split happened, and it was confusing as to what direction to go anyway, but at the end of the day, the IRL had the Indy 500. That's what I could find money for. I couldn't find $750,000 to go to Atlantic racing so we went IRL racing."

The giant leap from F2000 to the IRL was made possible by the unique training offered with the light, underpowered open wheelers.

"It was huge and the only salvation was, at that time, for probably a four-year stint, they had the Hooters Formula Cup Series racing 20 times in Florida, in Georgia, on small ovals with 25 or 30 F2000 cars," Schmidt recalled. "I was used to a lot of open-wheel cars in a short amount of space going around very, very quickly, and I think that was the only salvation for me, going from F2000 straight to Indy Racing League, and a bullring-type atmosphere in knowing how to set up a car to race on an oval."

Schmidt broke into the IRL with Blueprint Racing as teammate to Jim Guthrie at Phoenix, which preceded the Indy 500 on the schedule. The little team, run on the smallest of shoestring budgets, toppled Tony Stewart and the other IRL favorites that day in Arizona with Guthrie's car.

"Truly what the IRL was founded on was giving a lot of people an opportunity to participate at this level that would not have had the opportunity otherwise, and that was the epitome," he said. "These were circle-track guys, and I had known Guthrie. He kind of put the team together, and then it was, let's say, very economical."

Although 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of Schmidt's first Indy 500, the race itself was one to forget. Starting 23rd, the Las Vegas native wasn't in the No. 16 Dallara-Oldsmobile for very long.

"Ironically the motor blows up on the pace laps of the '97 Indy 500, and with the rain delays and stuff I never even got a chance to run," he said. "So that was a bit disappointing."

The Indy 500 rookie would also drew the ire of Blueprint's PR person after his abbreviated Speedway debut.

"I'm at home watching the banquet, I've got my PR gal screaming at me because I didn't' stick around for the banquet," he said. "I didn't' know I had to, and I was pissed off so I went home. It was just a weird chain of events, but '98 was good."

After switching to LP Racing for 1998, Schmidt was able to show his speed and talent at Indy in another Dallara-Oldsmobile package. Wanting to make up for all he missed out on in the 1997 race, aggression was the only thing that kept Schmidt from securing a quality finish.

"We still had a privateer program, but this time with Larry Nash, who built an incredible car and qualified sixth," he said. "Ran up front, and if anything [I was] just overaggressive, going for third place at lap 50 or whatever, and hit the wall."

Schmidt's swan song in the IRL came with a move to the powerhouse Treadway Racing team, winners of the 1997 Indy 500. With two-time Indy winner Arie Luyendyk as his teammate for the month of May, Schmidt had the best opportunity of his young career to make a statement at Indy.

"The whole year was completely opposite of the previous two in that I had signed up Fred Treadway and had this great sponsorship, and for the 500 was teamed with Arie Luyendyk, who was by far the most generous, unbelievable teammate a person could have," he said.

"The guy was totally open with his information, and him and [engineer] Tim Wardrop would cook up something, and he'd go out and run like 10 laps an entire day each day, and just sign up for qualifying. The man was a total Ovalmeister, and our car did all the grunt work, all the long runs which was great for me.

Starting from inside the first two rows for the 1998 race and just outside for the 1999 event was another indicator of Schmidt's oval prowess.

"I did all the Firestone testing that year," he said. "We were ready, [but Arie] still went out and just unbelievably just smoked the pole position, and I was in awe because I had everything he had, and I was actually disappointed with seventh place. But I knew I had a great car. I think by lap 70 there was only seven guys on the lead lap, some of which was due to pit cycling and somebody ran out of gas, yellow coming out, etc. It was really Arie and myself and Greg Ray, and I think maybe Sharp or somebody.

"Got to lead the race and just felt totally confident, and was looking in my right mirror when I should have been looking ahead. An accordion effect happened, and Arie ... I had a decision to make not to hit Arie in the butt, or jump on the brakes and that was end of that. Ironically, with all of his experience, he was leading a bunch of the race and I think about lap 150, same thing happened to him with Tyce Carlson going into Turn 3. So, little silver lining, that he crashed virtually the same way I crashed in the same race, so even he isn't susceptible to the situation."

With finishes of 34th, 26th and 30th, Schmidt wasn't able to reach the checkered flag in his three Indy 500s. Armed with the heart of a racer, he has mixed feelings on his brief time as an Indy 500 front-runner.

"It was disappointing because I really think we had worked hard and the Treadway group had a good enough car to win that race that year, and to see it get won the way it was won was disappointing," he said of Kenny Brack's victory after Luyendyk crashed. "But again, [I'm] happy to have the opportunity and happy to drive around this place, and I think I know what it takes to be successful here.

"I drive that home with my drivers as far as the patience and setting up a car for full stints, and what that all takes. At least we can look up and say we did it and we were a lap leader here, and have a lot of great memories from that experience."

Listen to the full interview with Schmidt on his driving career below: