On January 6, 2000, Sam Schmidt was practicing at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Florida when his car crashed exiting turn two at approximately 180 mph. He was airlifted to hospital and diagnosed as a quadriplegic following a severe spinal cord injury at the C-3/C-4 levels, spending five months on a respirator. Fourteen months after his accident, in 2001, Schmidt announced the formation of Sam Schmidt Motorsports, channelling his motorsport passion into team ownership.
The team's early years were modest. Davey Hamilton drove the opening five races of 2001, including the team's first Indianapolis 500 appearance, before an injury ended his participation. Various drivers filled in, and for several seasons the team's IndyCar program was limited largely to the Indy 500, while SSM refocused its primary competitive effort on the Indy Pro Series (later Indy Lights).
SSM's Indy Lights program became one of the most decorated in the series. The team won the championship in 2004 with Thiago Medeiros, in 2006 with Jay Howard, in 2007 with Alex Lloyd, in 2010 with Jean-Karl Vernay, and in 2012 with Tristan Vautier. Sage Karam won the 2013 title, bringing the team's Indy Lights championship total to six over a dozen years.
In 2011, SSM purchased the assets of FAZZT Race Team and committed to a full IndyCar season for the first time in years, fielding cars for Alex Tagliani, Townsend Bell, Jay Howard, and Wade Cunningham. The year was marked by tragedy: team manager Chris Griffis died in September 2011 at age 46, and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon died in a 15-car accident at Las Vegas Motor Speedway while driving a joint SSM/Bryan Herta Autosport entry.
In 2012, Frenchman Simon Pagenaud joined as the team's lead driver under the new banner Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports, after former IndyCar driver Davey Hamilton brought sufficient sponsorship to support a full-season effort. Pagenaud won the IndyCar Rookie of the Year Award and scored four podiums.
Canadian businessman Ric Peterson purchased a stake in 2013, creating Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM). Pagenaud won twice that year, at Detroit Round 2 and Baltimore, and finished third in the championship. With Pagenaud departing to Team Penske after 2014, James Hinchcliffe became the team's focal point. Hinchcliffe won the 2015 Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana but suffered a life-threatening crash at Indianapolis during qualifying that season, piercing an artery and requiring emergency surgery on the circuit.
The team added Russian driver Mikhail Aleshin alongside Hinchcliffe in 2016-17, and Hinchcliffe took a victory at Long Beach in 2017. The 2018 season brought Canadian Robert Wickens as co-driver; Wickens displayed immediate pace but suffered a catastrophic crash at Pocono Raceway that left him a paraplegic. Leena Gade had earlier joined as Hinchcliffe's lead race engineer for 2018, the first female lead race engineer in IndyCar history.
In 2019, Arrow Electronics became title sponsor under the Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports name, and former Sauber Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson joined the lineup.
In August 2019, SPM announced a collaboration with McLaren Racing for 2020 onwards, with the combined team renamed Arrow McLaren SP. Mexican driver Pato O'Ward joined alongside Oliver Askew. O'Ward became the team's breakthrough performer, winning at Texas and Detroit in 2021 — the team's first double-win season since 2014 and McLaren's first open-wheel wins since 2012.
McLaren purchased a 75% ownership stake in August 2021, with CEO Zak Brown installed as chairman. Schmidt and Peterson retained a 25% stake through 2024, at which point McLaren completed a full buyout. The team was rebranded Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team for 2023 and expanded to three full-time cars. In January 2025, McLaren's takeover was complete, ending the Schmidt and Peterson chapter entirely.
Sam Schmidt Motorsports represents one of the most remarkable stories in American motorsport — a paralysed former driver who built a competitive IndyCar operation from nothing, developing stars including Simon Pagenaud, James Hinchcliffe, and Pato O'Ward, and constructing the institutional foundation that ultimately attracted McLaren Racing. The organization won nine IndyCar races under various Schmidt-era identities and six Indy Lights championships, leaving a substantial competitive legacy that continues under the McLaren banner.