A01=Sam Schmidt
A02=Don Yaeger
Author_Don Yaeger
Author_Sam Schmidt
auto racing inspiration
Category=DNBS1
Category=DNC
Category=VFJD
Category=VSPM
disability memoir
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_health-lifestyle
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_self-help
forthcoming
Indy Racing League
IndyCar memoir
inspirational memoir
life after paralysis
motorsports biography
overcoming adversity
paralysis survival story
paralyzed athlete story
quadriplegic memoir
race car driver memoir
racing accident survivor
resilience and hope
Sam Schmidt memoir
spinal cord injury recovery
Product details
- ISBN 9798895151617
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 16 Jul 2026
- Publisher: Diversion Books
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
An inspirational memoir by the former IndyCar driver turned entrepreneur, race team owner and philanthropist, No Finish Line is Sam Schmidt’s account of leading the charge to find cures and treatments for spinal cord injuries after a racing accident left him paralyzed.
On January 6, 2000, Sam Schmidt, who had just won his first Indy Racing League competition in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, backed into a wall at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Florida. He did so at around two hundred miles per hour, and as a result, Sam broke his neck. Airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center before being transferred to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, where he spent six months in rehabilitation before going home to his new life with his loving wife Sheila and two young children, Savannah and Spencer.
For over 25 years, Sam has learned to live paralyzed. But being a quadriplegic has not slowed him down. Almost immediately after his accident, he started a foundation that has raised millions of dollars for spinal cord injury and rehabilitation. He founded a racing team that’s won dozens of races and competed for championships. He’s driven cars again thanks to cutting-edge technology. His children have grown. He spoke at his son’s college graduation and danced on two legs with his daughter at her wedding.
Sam’s philosophy is you either get busy doing the work or you get busy waiting to die. For him, the latter is not an option. Indeed, Sam says he has done much more after (and because of) his accident than he would have otherwise. A former control freak, he has learned to delegate. A once-singularly-minded, self-described egocentric racer, he now lives to help others. The son of a driver who was also paralyzed from the sport, Sam has lived an astonishing, driven life. This is his journey.
On January 6, 2000, Sam Schmidt, who had just won his first Indy Racing League competition in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, backed into a wall at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Florida. He did so at around two hundred miles per hour, and as a result, Sam broke his neck. Airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center before being transferred to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, where he spent six months in rehabilitation before going home to his new life with his loving wife Sheila and two young children, Savannah and Spencer.
For over 25 years, Sam has learned to live paralyzed. But being a quadriplegic has not slowed him down. Almost immediately after his accident, he started a foundation that has raised millions of dollars for spinal cord injury and rehabilitation. He founded a racing team that’s won dozens of races and competed for championships. He’s driven cars again thanks to cutting-edge technology. His children have grown. He spoke at his son’s college graduation and danced on two legs with his daughter at her wedding.
Sam’s philosophy is you either get busy doing the work or you get busy waiting to die. For him, the latter is not an option. Indeed, Sam says he has done much more after (and because of) his accident than he would have otherwise. A former control freak, he has learned to delegate. A once-singularly-minded, self-described egocentric racer, he now lives to help others. The son of a driver who was also paralyzed from the sport, Sam has lived an astonishing, driven life. This is his journey.
Sam Schmidt was a driver in the Indy Racing League before suffering an injury in practice in January 2000 in which he sustained a C-3/4/5 spinal cord injury that left him a quadriplegic. He created the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation (SSPF) that year to raise funds for medical research, innovative equipment used for rehabilitation, and quality-of-life issues. In 2014, the foundation was rebranded as Conquer Paralysis Now with a mission to cure paralysis while assisting those who are already disabled.
Don Yaeger is a 13-time New York Times bestselling author, longtime Associate Editor for Sports Illustrated, and one of the most in-demand public speakers on the corporate circuit.
Don Yaeger is a 13-time New York Times bestselling author, longtime Associate Editor for Sports Illustrated, and one of the most in-demand public speakers on the corporate circuit.
