¦ April 2, 2007
Relaxing ride with no barriers
Sam Schmidt, a quadriplegic, needed a wheelchair-accessible boat, and captain Mick Nealey came through for a tranquil cruise

BY SUSAN COCKING
scocking@MiamiHerald.com

After his team's mixed result at Homestead Miami Speedway last weekend, the president of Sam Schmidt Motorsports decided to take some badly needed R & R on the water in Key Largo.

But taking a boat ride isn't as simple for Schmidt as for most people. A quadriplegic with no movement from the chest down since a 2000 racing accident, he needed a boat that is wheelchair-accessible. That's where captain Mick Nealey of Tranquil Adventures came in.

Nealey's 28-foot pontoon boat has a shaded, open deck and a folding aluminum ramp to accommodate a wheelchair. It has a battery-operated personal watercraft lift with a strap-in seat that lowers one into the water. All seats and storage lockers are portable.

Nealey and Schmidt met when the racer's charitable foundation donated money to Key Largo's Center for Independent Living. They toured the pits at Homestead together and quickly established a rapport. The two could relate: Although Nealey is not confined to a wheelchair, he suffers from post-polio syndrome -- the remnants of a childhood viral disease that lays waste to the leg muscles. He walks with a limp and suffers from chronic pain.

''Going out on the water is the only thing that takes my mind off it,'' Nealey said.

Motoring into the sheltered waters of Barnes Sound, Nealey wanted a recap of Schmidt's Indy Racing League Pro Series team's performance at last weekend's race.

''One was first [Alex Lloyd], one crashed [Ryan Justice], and one wound up 16th [Logan Gomez],'' Schmidt said.

The team won last year's championship.

Schmidt, 42, drives his wheelchair using the headrest. He divides his time among racing, foundation work and attending the soccer games of his 7-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter.

''I don't have time to be depressed,'' he said. ``I think about what I can do -- not what I can't do.''

Schmidt has a couple of side projects -- restoring an old car and building a new house near Las Vegas. He'd like to re-learn how to scuba dive and take a spin in defending Super Boat International world champion Nigel Hook's Lucas Oil race boat.

One of Schmidt's favorite charity functions is his ''Day at the Races'' program, held at several sites to treat hospital and rehab-center patients, their families, and caregivers to a free day of high-speed entertainment.

''If you're not on a ventilator, you're no worse off than me,'' Schmidt tells them. ``You got an injury and it [stinks], but it is not the end of your life.''

Schmidt ought to know. Seven years ago, having just won his first IRL race, he crashed into a wall at Walt Disney World Speedway during practice. He lost two vertebrae and was on a ventilator for six weeks. Two months after coming home, his wife Sheila told him he needed to find something to do.

Schmidt started his race team in 2001 and began investigating what could be done about his paralysis.

''When I did the research on what possible cures there were, it was way beyond our means,'' he said. ``But we can tap into our fan base.''

That was the start of the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation, which has raised more than $2 million to find a cure for spinal-cord injuries.

But last Monday on the water in Key Largo was all about taking a break. Schmidt and Nealey talked about cars and boats, stopped for lunch at Gilbert's dockside restaurant, and took a leisurely sightseeing cruise along Florida Bay. Returning to Nealey's dock at mid-afternoon, they were greeted by a friendly manatee floating lazily on the surface.

A much-needed, tranquil adventure for sure.