When some of the top racers in the world square off for the fifth iRacing Pro Race of Champions online simulation competition Dec. 16, they’ll be joined by former INDYCAR driver and current Verizon IndyCar Series and Indy Lights team owner Sam Schmidt.

It will be the first competitive “driving” for Schmidt since the 1999 Verizon IndyCar Series season, a year in which he won the penultimate race and finished fifth in the championship. Schmidt sustained a spinal cord injury in a January 2000 testing accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

Schmidt, though, has returned to the wheel of a street car thanks to his participation in the Arrow Electronics SAM (Semi-Autonomous Motorcar) Project. For the last two years, Schmidt, 51, has worked with Arrow, the sponsor of the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports No. 5 Verizon IndyCar Series entry, in developing a system that allows disabled people the ability to drive using their own head movements.

Schmidt drove four laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in a 2014 Corvette Stingray equipped with advanced electronics in May 2014 and drove the SAM Corvette around the Long Beach street circuit and Sonoma Raceway permanent road course earlier this year.

For the iRacing event, Schmidt will use a modified Motion Pro II simulator designed by CXC Simulations equipped with the same advanced technology, controlling his virtual race car using head movements to turn and sensors to accelerate and brake.

The field of pro drivers - which includes Verizon IndyCar Series drivers Stefan Wilson and Martin Plowman and Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires driver Kyle Kaiser - will compete in digital versions of the GT3 class BMW Z4 for 20 laps on iRacing's laser-scanned replica of the Watkins Glen "Cup" circuit for a $2,500 donation to the Wilson Children's Fund made in the winner's name.

It is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET and will be streamed on iRacing.com. The Wilson Children's Fund benefits the family of late Verizon IndyCar Series driver Justin Wilson, an advocate of iRacing and multi-time participant in the Pro Race of Champions.