¦ September 9, 2006
From Chicagoland Speedway
An update on Sam Schmidt's Indy Pro series (IPS) race team

From Chicagoland Speedway, Friday September 8, on a beautiful day for racecars…

An update on Sam Schmidt’s Indy Pro Series (IPS) race team:

It’s a close battle between Jay Howard and Jonathan Klein for the Indy Pro Series season championship. They are both great racers with very bright futures. In Friday’s qualifying, Jay Howard, driving the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Isilon car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, set the bar with a lap of 188.774 mph. Later, Andretti Green Racing’s Jonathan Klein, in the No. 27 Klein Tools/Turn-Key Forging car, posted a 2nd quick 188.285 mph. Picking up a bonus point for winning the pole, Howard takes a nine-point lead over Klein into Saturday’s deciding race. Sam’s No. 77 OAM/SSM car, driven this time by Akihira Okamoto, qualified 3rd (187.663), and Jaime Camara, in Andretti Green’s No. 11 Neo Quimica car, qualified 8th (185.625). It’s sure to be an exciting race, with a total of 18 cars entered.

On Saturday, Chicagoland Speedway is graciously sponsoring SSPF's Day at the Races program. This program is designed for people with spinal cord injuries to spend a day at the Speedway. The fun-filled day will include lunch in the Andretti Green Hospitality Tent, a chance to meet Sam and his race team drivers, as well as a garage & pit tour.

Now back to Saturday’s race: Although the IPS race is not broadcast live on TV, you can watch it live on the Indycar Series website. Here’s how: Go to www.indycar.com. From that first screen, click "live video - streaming". (You may have to download a quick & free software update and create a log in with a password.)

In case your computer is not compatible to see the moving screen, to the right of the first screen you can still click "Live Timing and Scoring", which shows number of laps, lap times, etc., updated every few seconds. Don’t forget to cheer on Sam’s team!

In other news, on Thursday this week Sam Schmidt got airborne!

Sam was invited to be a passenger on a small aerobatics plane, one of those used in the Klein Tools Air Show. The former IndyCar Series driver had the experience of a lifetime, doing loops, spins, and a vertical stall, then flew upside down for a good minute-and-a-half. Sam called it a “wild experience”. He also claims it calmed him down in preparation for Saturday’s Indy Pro Series race! This goes to show that anything is possible, even for SCI folks! (See complete article which follows, “Schmidt gets a wild ride”, reprinted from indycar.com.)


Just a reminder: The money raised by SSPF does not support SSM, but the Foundation benefits from motorsports exposure.