Editing Bill Shoemaker (section)

==After 1990 jockey retirement==
Soon after retiring as a jockey in 1990, Shoemaker returned to the track as a trainer, where he had modest success, training for such clients as Gulfstream magnate [[Allen Paulson]] and composer [[Burt Bacharach]].

He continued to train racehorses until his retirement on November 2, 1997. His final stats as a trainer were 90 wins from 714 starters and earnings of $3.7 million.

Shoemaker was involved in a solo drunk-driving car crash on April 8, 1991, in [[San Dimas, California]], when he rolled over the [[Ford Bronco II]] he was driving. The accident left him paralyzed from the neck down, and he thereafter used a wheelchair. Even though a blood sample drawn 98 minutes after he entered the hospital showed his blood-alcohol at .13, above California's legal limit of .08, Shoemaker did not accept blame for the crash.  He sued the [[California Department of Transportation]] for not installing guard rails along the highway and [[Ford Motor Company]] for faulty vehicle design (as the Bronco II was infamous for it higher rollover risk).  Ford settled with Shoemaker for [[United States dollar|$]]1,000,000.<ref>{{cite news| title=From Fame to Shame| url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1993/04/19/from-fame-to-shame-bill-shoemaker-a-casualty-of-his-own-drunk-driving-has-lost-respect-by-launching-lawsuits-to-shift-the-blame-for-his-tragic-folly| first=William| last=Nack| date=April 19, 1993| magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]| access-date=September 12, 2022}}</ref>

Shoemaker authored three murder mysteries. They were often compared to the large stable of best-selling horse mysteries by fellow jockey/author [[Dick Francis]]. Shoemaker's ''Stalking Horse'' (1994), ''Fire Horse'' (1995), and ''Dark Horse'' (1996) all featured jockey-turned-sleuth Coley Killebrew using his racetrack experience in and about his restaurant and the horse world.

Shoemaker died on October 12, 2003, of natural causes at his home in San Marino, California. He was 72 years old.<ref>{{cite news| title=Bill Shoemaker, Famed Jockey, Dies| first=Adam| last=Bernstein| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2003/10/13/bill-shoemaker-famed-jockey-dies/50efda6e-b80b-49b4-a021-5d97e9bac797/| newspaper=The Washington Post| date=October 13, 2003| access-date=September 12, 2022}}</ref> He was survived by his adopted son and adopted daughter, Amanda.