Sam Schmidt walks the walk at Indianapolis 500

When Sam Schmidt was paralyzed from the neck down during a testing crash in Florida 21 years ago, doctors told him he would never again drive a race car.

Apparently, they didn’t say anything about dancing with his daughter at her wedding or walking through Gasoline Alley at venerable Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which Sunday will host the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Schmidt did both this month.

The longtime Southern Nevada resident has three cars among the 33 starters, and watching one of them drink the winner’s milk would be a thrill almost too big to imagine.

But not the thrill of a lifetime.

That happened when he was outfitted for an experimental exoskeleton being developed by Arrow Electronics, his team sponsor, and danced with daughter, Savannah, and wife, Sheila, during Savannah’s reception.

“It was pretty epic,” said the 56-year-old car owner and winner of a 1999 IndyCar race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway just three months before his devastating crash. His daughter was unaware that her dad, with the help of Arrow technician Leon West who helps him balance, had been working on his dance steps for a couple of months.

The joy on her face was just as epic as her father’s beaming smile. They had members of NBC’s “TODAY” show choking back tears when they showed the clip.

“It was the opportunity of a lifetime for sure,” said Schmidt, who got out his wheelchair again at the Brickyard during the recent Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The hope is that as Arrow develops the exoskeleton it calls the SAM (Semi-Autonomous Mobility) suit, Schmidt will be able to balance and walk on his own.

Pato O’Ward, who won a recent race in Texas driving for Schmidt, is considered a dark horse in Sunday’s race. Schmidt said his other two drivers, two-time Indy winner Juan Pablo Montoya and Felix Rosenqvist, also could wind up in victory lane with a bit of racing luck.

If one of them do, he may even consider walking there to join them.

Around the horn

— More Indy: Las Vegas attorney Marc Risman has two-thirds of the first row of covered. He handles the legal affairs of pole position winner and six-time series champion Scott Dixon of New Zealand as well as 2020 IndyCar Rookie of the Year Rinus VeeKay of the Netherlands, who will start outside on Row 1.

Back in the 11th row, Las Vegas Jimmy John’s franchise owner Cody Selman (the husband of Green Valley High grad and NASCAR pit road reporter Jamie Little) will serve on the pit crew of seven-time Indy veteran Sage Karam.

— Larry Keating, a longtime athletic administrator at Kansas who was instrumental in scheduling a college basketball game pitting the Jayhawks against fellow national power Florida that attracted a sellout crowd to Orleans Arena in 2006 (and opened up Las Vegas for similar games), died Tuesday at his home in Lawrence, Kansas. He was 76.

“Without Larry, Kansas would have played Florida at Valley High School,” said then Orleans Arena director Steve Stallworth about Keating’s role in bringing big-time hoops to town.

— Faith Lutheran’s Shane Taylor, who skipped his senior high school season amid the COVID pandemic to begin his college baseball career as a 17-year-old at Dixie State, received an honorable mention on the all-Western Athletic Conference team.

Taylor is hitting .288 with six homers and 25 RBI for Dixie, 23-31 (21-15 in the WAC) in its first NCAA Division I season.

0:01

USA Today’s Gabe Lacques, on Oakland Athletics president Dave Kaval’s Twitter post during Monday’s Golden Knights vs. Minnesota hockey game:

“ … he was just a business guy enjoying a junket, wide-eyed at a playoff game he’s attending on the dime of either Las Vegas or the A’s.

“Given that the shot was taken from the cheap seats at T-Mobile Arena, we’re guessing it’s the latter.”

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.