Sage Karam

Sage Rennie Karam (born March 5, 1995) is an American racing driver from Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

Sage Karam
Karam in 2014
Nationality	American
Born	March 5, 1995 Nazareth, Pennsylvania, United States
IndyCar Series career
21 races run over 7 years
Team(s)	No. 24 (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing)
2019 position	27th
Best finish	20th (2015)
First race	2014 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Last race	2020 IndyCar Harvest GP Race 2 (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 1 0
Previous series
2010 2011–2012 2013 2019	U.S. F2000 National Championship Star Mazda Championship Indy Lights Americas Rallycross Championship
Championship titles
2010 2013	U.S. F2000 National Championship Firestone Indy Lights Champion

Early life and education

Karam grew up in Nazareth, Pennsylvania and raced karts at Oakland Valley Race Park in Cuddebackville, New York. He has a younger sister, Sydnee Karam, a swimmer.[1] He graduated from Nazareth Area High School in 2014.[2]

Racing career

Early racing

After karting, Karam competed in the 2010 season of the U.S. F2000 National Championship for Andretti Autosport. Karam won nine of the twelve races and the pole in all but one race and dominated the championship.[3] For winning the championship, as a part of the Road to Indy program and the Mazdaspeed development ladder, Karam won a prize package valued at US$350,000 that allowed him to compete in the Star Mazda Championship in 2011, again with Andretti Autosport.[4] Karam won back-to-back oval races at the Milwaukee Mile and Iowa Speedway and finished fifth in points, winning rookie of the year honors. He returned to the team and series in 2012 and improved to third in points with three race wins.

Indy Lights

In 2013 he moved up the Road to Indy ladder to the Firestone Indy Lights series with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.[5] Karam won the Indy Lights title that year, becoming the eighth rookie to win the series championship.[6]

Sports cars

Karam was signed by Chip Ganassi Racing to compete in a number of endurance sportscar races in the United SportsCar Championship in 2014. He ran in the 24 Hours of Daytona,[7] driving the No. 01 car alongside Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Jamie McMurray,[8] and the 12 Hours of Sebring in the No. 02, next to IndyCar drivers Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan.[9]

The Daytona 24 Hours was a short race for Sage, as they suffered engine troubles and dropped out early.

Taking over in hour four, Karam made his 12 Hours of Sebring debut a memorable one by taking the No. 02 car from third place to the lead in his opening lap then extending his lead through the end of his driving stint. Karam took the wheel for his second stint with the car in fourth place and proceeded to drive to the lead again before handing off to Dixon, who was then knocked off course of a back-marker, leaving them in sixth place at race end.[10]

Back in the 01 car for Watkins Glen, teamed with Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, things went awry quickly for the trio as first Rojas was sent hard into the wall by a slower GT car. They returned to the race several laps down, only for Pruett to suffer similar consequences when knocked into the wall by a sports prototype.[11]

With Rojas sidelined due to nagging back injuries,[12] Karam started for his final appearance of the season at the Brickyard Grand Prix, teamed with Pruett in the 01 car. Starting sixth, he skillfully dodged a major melee as several cars came together at the start. The 01 team remained among the leaders and lead 11 laps before collecting a second place, podium finish.[13]

During 2016, Karam worked as test driver of 3GT Racing's Lexus RC F GT3. He competed at the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the factory-supported team, where his best class finish was fifth at Mosport Park.

IndyCar

Ganassi secured Karam a seat in the 2014 Indianapolis 500 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, which had not run an IndyCar race since the previous "500".[14] Karam qualified 31st but drove an outstanding race to finish ninth, the second-highest-finishing rookie.[15][16]

During the 2015 IndyCar Series season Karam split the driving duties for the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 8 Dallara with Sebastián Saavedra,[17] who ran four races on a limited budget. While his season started slowly, by finishing in the lower third of the field in his first three road/street courses events of the season, he proved to be a quick study on the ovals. At Indianapolis, he was at the top of the speed charts on the opening day of practice and consistently remained among the top cars in successive sessions. After qualifying 23rd, with a conservative setup, he was on top of the speed charts again during the post-qualifying practice and 7th quickest during Carb Day. Considered to be a dark-horse favorite on race day, it was all for naught as he was forced to settle with a 32nd-place finish in the 2015 Indianapolis 500, after contact with Takuma Sato. At the next race, which was at Detroit, in a heavy downpour, Karam was on pole with 90 seconds left in qualifying when IndyCar canceled the session due to track conditions. Following his 3rd place qualifying effort and leading 5 laps on his way to a 5th place finish at Fontana, Karam captured his season best finish at the 2015 Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway in July, by finishing 3rd.

In his Pennsylvania homecoming at Pocono Raceway for the 2015 ABC Supply 500 on August 23, Karam was leading with 21 laps remaining when he lost control exiting turn 1, eliminating his Chip Ganassi number 8 Dallara as it spun and crashed hard into the wall. Debris strewn from Karam's disintegrating car made contact with fellow competitor Justin Wilson's helmet, sending him into the infield wall where the safety team extracted him unconscious and unresponsive, necessitating an emergency medevac to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown where Wilson lay comatose, in critical condition.[18][19] Wilson died on August 24, 2015.[20]

With Saavedra back in the car for the 2015 season finale at Sonoma, Karam finished the 2015 IndyCar season 20th in points, bested by rival Gabby Chaves for 2015 rookie of the year honors. Replaced for the 2016 season, Karam's seat in the Chip Ganassi stable piloting the number 8 Dallara was secured by Max Chilton.

On a one-race agreement for 2016, Dreyer & Reinbold signed Karam for the Indianapolis 500, initially with Havoline and Gas Monkey Garage as sponsors. Steadily improving from his 23rd qualifying slot on grid, into the top 10, Karam crashed on lap 94, going into Townsend Bell in Turn One.

On a successive one race agreement, again Dreyer & Reinbold signed Karam to drive the Mecum Auctions #24 Dallara-Chevrolet for the 2017 Indianapolis 500. Having improved from his 21st qualifying slot into the top 10, Karam retired his Mecum Auctions Dreyer & Reinbold entry at the 275 mile juncture, with a dead battery. He joined the team again in 2018, sponsored by Wix, but crashed the car on lap 154.

In 2019, he again drove for Dreyer & Reinbold in the 2019 Indianapolis 500. He started 31st and finished 19th. It was announced on July 2, 2019 that Karam would drive for Carlin in the Honda Indy Toronto.[21]

On January 7, 2020, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced that they will be expanding their race schedule to at least four races with Karam driving them.[22] These races include the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, GMR Grand Prix, 2020 Indianapolis 500, and Honda Indy Toronto. A pit error in the Indy 500 took the team out of contention.[23]

Rallycross

Karam was signed by Dreyer & Reinbold Racing on a five-race contract for the 2019 Americas Rallycross Championship season.[24] He performed well, never finishing lower than second and earned a win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.[25]

Personal life

Karam lives in Nazareth, Pennsylvania with his fiancee Abigail Guman and two dogs.[1]

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

U.S. F2000 National Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2010	Andretti Autosport	STP 1	STP 1	ORP 2	IOW 1	NJM 1	NJM 9	ACC 2	ACC 1	ROA 1	ROA 1	ATL 1	ATL 1	1st	351

Star Mazda Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
2011	Andretti Autosport	STP 15	BAR 9	IND 3	MIL 1	IOW 1	MOS 13	TRO 4	TRO 5	SON 4	BAL 2	LAG 16							5th	364
2012	Andretti Autosport	STP 8	STP 7	BAR 2	BAR 12	IND 2	IOW 1	TOR 21	TOR 3	EDM 2	EDM 2	TRO 2	TRO 1	BAL 15	BAL 1	LAG 7	LAG 19	ATL 2	3rd	325

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2013	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	STP 3	ALA 4	LBH 3	INDY 3	MIL 1	IOW 1	POC 2	TOR 6	MDO 8	BAL 2	HOU 1	FON 3	1st	460

IndyCar Series

(key)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points
2014	Dreyer & Reinbold Kingdom Racing	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet	STP	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 9	DET	DET	TXS	HOU	HOU	POC	IOW	TOR	TOR	MDO	MIL	SNM	FON	27th	57
2015	Chip Ganassi Racing			STP 19	NLA 18	LBH	ALA 18	IMS	INDY 32	DET 16	DET 12	TXS 12	TOR	FON 5	MIL 19	IOW 3	MDO 22	POC 14	SNM			20th	197
2016	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing			STP	PHX	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 32	DET	DET	ELK	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	TXS	WGL	SNM			32nd	22
2017				STP	LBH	ALA	PHX	IMS	INDY 28	DET	DET	TXS	ELK	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	GTW	WGL	SNM		34th	23
2018				STP	PHX	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 26	DET	DET	TXS	ELK	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	GTW	POR	SNM		40th	10
2019				STP	COA	ALA	LBH	IMS	INDY 19	DET	DET	TXS	ELK									27th	39
	Carlin													TOR 21	IOW 22	MDO	POC	GTW	POR	LAG
2020	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing			TXS	IMS 23	ROA	ROA	IOW	IOW	INDY 24	GTW	GTW	MDO	MDO	IMS 23	IMS 24	STP					29th	32

* Season still in progress.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)**	Top 10s (Non-podium)***	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
4	2	16	0	0	1	2	0	0

** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd-place finishes.

*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th-place finishes.

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2014	Dallara	Chevrolet	31	9	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2015	Dallara	Chevrolet	22	32	Chip Ganassi Racing
2016	Dallara	Chevrolet	23	32	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Kingdom Racing
2017	Dallara	Chevrolet	21	28	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2018	Dallara	Chevrolet	24	26	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2019	Dallara	Chevrolet	31	19	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2020	Dallara	Chevrolet	31	24	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

Year	Team	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2014	Chip Ganassi Racing	P	Ford EcoBoost Riley DP	Ford Ecoboost 3.5 L V6 Turbo	DAY 11	SEB 6	LBH	LGA	DET	WGL 8	MOS	IMS 2	ELK	COA	PET	23rd	104
2015	Chip Ganassi Racing	P	Ford EcoBoost Riley DP	Ford Ecoboost 3.5 L V6 Turbo	DAY 6	SIR	LBH	LGA	DET	WGL	MSP	ELK	COA	PET		27th	26

Complete Americas Rallycross results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Rank	Points
2019	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Olsbergs MSE	ARX2	MDO		GAT		TRR		COTA	MDO		6th	129
				2	2	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	2	1	2

References

1. Rob Harms (August 22, 2015). "The New Face of IndyCar Racing Is Not Afraid to Bump Fenders or Heads". The New York Times. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
2. Matt Smith (August 5, 2015). "IndyCar driver Sage Karam returns to Nazareth Area High School on Aug. 5, 2015". The Express-Times. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
3. Karam Puts an Exclamation Point on His Title By Dominating Friday's USF2000 Race Archived July 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Paddock Talk, October 1, 2010, Retrieved October 4, 2010
4. Piersall, Debbie. Nazareth teen is one step closer to Indy after championship, The Morning Call, October 1, 2010, Retrieved October 4, 2010
5. Sage Karam Graduates With Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Archived March 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, SPEED, March 8, 2013, Retrieved March 14, 2013
6. Lewandowski, Dave (October 19, 2013). "Karam secures title; Munoz wins fourth race". IndyCar. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
7. Blake, Corkey (January 4, 2014). "Sage Karam to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona". The Express-Times. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
8. Kelly, Goodwin (January 4, 2014). "Ganassi announces powerhouse Rolex 24 at Daytona driver lineup". Daytona News-Journal. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
9. Ganassi Confirms Sebring Lineups - Tony DiZinno, Sportscar365, March 5, 2014
10. https://sagekaram.com/2014/03/16/cgrfs-wins-12-hours-sebring-debut/
11. http://www.escuderiatelmex.com/wps/portal/et/en/noticias/detalle/carrera-6-horas-glen
12. https://sagekaram.com/tag/brickyard-grand-prix/
13. "07/25/2014 race: Brickyard Grand Prix (WSCC) - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
14. Sage Karam, 19, lands Indy 500 ride with Ganassi and DRR, USA Today, April 29, 2014, retrieved May 30, 2014
15. Fox Sports. "Carpenter, Rahal rip rookie Karam after high-speed Iowa showdown". FOX Sports. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
16. "Sage Karam makes another strong case for full-time ride". Indianapolis Star. Associated Press. January 25, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
17. "Sage Karam and Sebastian Saavedra to split Ganassi ride for remainder of IndyCar season". Associated Press. May 26, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
18. "Justin Wilson airlifted to hospital during Pocono race". ESPN. August 23, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
19. Olson, Jeff (August 23, 2015). "IndyCar driver Justin Wilson in a coma after Pocono crash". USA Today. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
20. Curt Cavin (August 24, 2015). "Justin Wilson dies of head injury". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
21. INDYCAR (July 2, 2019). "KARAM LANDS RIDE WITH CARLIN FOR TORONTO". INDYCAR.com. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
22. "Dreyer & Reinbold expands Indycar program for 2020". RACER. January 7, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
23. RACER (August 24, 2020). "karam-rues-pitlane-error". RACER.com. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
24. ARX (April 18, 2019). "INDY 500 DRIVER SAGE KARAM TO COMPETE IN ARX2 WITH DREYER & REINBOLD RACING AT MID-OHIO & GATEWAY". arxrallycross.com. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
25. ARX (October 5, 2019). "INDY 500 DRIVER SAGE KARAM CLAIMS FIRST ARX2 VICTORY". arxrallycross.com. Retrieved October 28, 2019.

External links

• Sage Karam official website
• Sage Karam career summary at DriverDB.com