On 6 January 2000, Sam Schmidt crashed during a practice session at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Florida, hitting the outside wall at approximately 180 mph. The accident left him a quadriplegic after a severe spinal cord injury at the C-3/C-4 levels. Fourteen months later, in 2001, Schmidt announced the formation of Sam Schmidt Motorsports (SSM). The team struggled initially, running only partial schedules, before fellow ex-driver Davey Hamilton brought sufficient sponsorship to support a full-season IndyCar campaign. In 2012 the team was renamed Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports to reflect Hamilton's contribution, and in 2013 Canadian businessman Ric Peterson purchased a stake to create Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM).
SPM became a competitive midfield force through the mid-2010s. Simon Pagenaud drove for the team from 2012, winning the IZOD IndyCar Rookie of the Year Award in 2012 and taking victories at Detroit and Baltimore in 2013. James Hinchcliffe joined for 2015 and won at the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana in his debut season, though his campaign was cut short by a serious crash during Indianapolis 500 qualifying that required emergency surgery. Hinchcliffe returned for 2016 and sat on the pole for the 100th Indianapolis 500. He won at Long Beach in 2017. Robert Wickens joined as Hinchcliffe's teammate in 2018 but suffered a paralyzing crash at Pocono Raceway during the ABC Supply 500. The accident left Wickens a paraplegic, though his spinal cord was bruised rather than severed, giving him hope of recovery. In 2019, primary sponsor Arrow Electronics became the title sponsor, renaming the team Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
In August 2019, SPM announced a partnership with McLaren Racing for the 2020 season onwards, forming Arrow McLaren SP. Pato O'Ward and Oliver Askew drove the team's two cars in 2020; Askew was released at season end and replaced by Felix Rosenqvist. In 2021, O'Ward took the team's first victory under the McLaren banner at Texas Motor Speedway — the first IndyCar win for a Chevrolet-powered team outside Team Penske since 2016. O'Ward added a second win at Detroit later that year. McLaren announced in August 2021 that it had purchased a 75% ownership stake, with McLaren CEO Zak Brown installed as chairman; Schmidt and Peterson retained the remaining 25% through 2024. For 2023 the team dropped the SP suffix to become Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team, adding Alexander Rossi alongside O'Ward and Rosenqvist. In January 2025, McLaren completed a full buyout, purchasing all remaining shares from Schmidt and Peterson.
The 2022 season brought the team its best Indianapolis 500 result to that point, with O'Ward and Rosenqvist finishing second and fourth respectively. David Malukas joined for 2024 to replace Rosenqvist but was released after breaking his wrist in pre-season testing. Callum Ilott, Theo Pourchaire, and ultimately Nolan Siegel drove in the vacated seat. The 2025 season proved the team's strongest, yielding two wins, twelve podium finishes, and three pole positions.
For 2026 the team fields three full-time Dallara-Chevrolet entries: the No. 5 for Pato O'Ward, the No. 6 for Nolan Siegel, and the No. 7 for Christian Lundgaard. The team's Indianapolis campus was substantially expanded in 2026 with the opening of the McLaren Racing Center, a renovated $30 million facility that grew the team's operational footprint from approximately 33,000 square feet to around 86,000 square feet. The new center features twelve dedicated car bays, indoor space for all team haulers, a pit-stop practice area, office space, and an integrated gym and recovery facility.
SSM and SPM maintained a prominent Indy Lights development program, winning championships with Thiago Medeiros (2004), Jay Howard (2006), Alex Lloyd (2007), Jean-Karl Vernay (2010), Tristan Vautier (2012), and Sage Karam (2013). The program was wound down after 2016 when Schmidt redirected resources to the IndyCar operation, though a development partnership with Belardi Auto Racing was announced in 2017.
McLaren has a longer history in American open-wheel racing than the SPM partnership alone. As an entrant, the team won the Indianapolis 500 in 1974 and 1976, and a McLaren-built chassis also won in 1972. One-off Indy 500 returns followed in 2017 with Fernando Alonso and again in 2019, the latter of which failed to qualify, before the full-season commitment from 2020.
The team's history encompasses two serious driver injuries — Sam Schmidt's founding accident and Robert Wickens' crash — that have defined its character as much as its on-track results. Under McLaren ownership it has evolved from a competitive midfield team into a front-running operation with a growing infrastructure investment aimed at challenging for championships.
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