SPEEDWAY (May 27, 2022) – Sage Karam and his No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing AES Indiana Chevrolet showed excellent speed Friday in the rain-delayed final 90-minute Carb Day practice session for Sunday’s 106th Indianapolis 500 with a top speed of 226.517 miles per hour at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Karam’s practice speed placed the Easton, PA, driver fifth in the 33-driver lineup at the legendary 2.5-mile oval after the NTT IndyCar Series teams had to wait out a morning rainstorm and began the final practice round at 1 p.m. EDT. The annual, popular Pit Stop Challenge followed the on-track activities before a big crowd.
Sage completed 61 laps during the Carb Day action and ranked fifth on the speed chart. Karam was the fastest Chevrolet driver in Carb Day practice runs.
Karam’s DRR teammate, Santino Ferrucci, made 55 laps Friday in the No. 23 DRR Palermo’s Screamin’ Sicilian Pizza/Barrett-Jackson Chevrolet with a best speed of 222.830 m.p.h. and suffered an incident in turn one with rookie David Malukas. Ferrucci’s No. 23 was not damaged in the contact, but Malukas’s mount hit the outside SAFER barrier.
On-track activity at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway will now move to Sunday’s 200-lap “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” scheduled for a 12:45 p.m. EDT start. Saturday’s Indy 500 events will include an all-driver autograph session at 9 a.m., public drivers’ meeting at 10:30 a.m. and the AES Indiana 500 Festival Parade at 12 p.m. in downtown in Indianapolis.
“It was a busier Carb Day that usual for us,” said Karam. “You usually make one run, a few pit stops and call it a day. We made one full tank run and were ready for another one when Colton hit the wall. There was a little more drama that I wanted on Carb Day as I was around both accidents today. The car felt solid in traffic, and we like the setup for Sunday. I am finished with Carb Day and leave the track very happy. We know we can make up spots in the pits as well as on the track. I’m anxious for the race.”
“My spotter (Dane Carter) mentioned he (Malukas) was on a run in the inside of turn one and I checked up to let him by,” said Ferrucci. “He must have lifted off the throttle or something, because he was late into the corner. I was past my turn-in point. Then we touched. I hope he is okay. And I’m sorry that we made contact. I didn’t expect that timing to be how it was right then. I think our Screamin’s Sicilian Pizza Chevy is fast for the race.”
About Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing was founded in 1999 by Indianapolis car dealer Dennis Reinbold. The legacy of the Dreyer and Reinbold family dates back to the 1920s with Reinbold’s grandfather, the legendary Floyd “Pop” Dreyer, a former factory motorcycle racer. Dreyer served as a crewman and mechanic on the famed Duesenberg driven by Benny Shoaff and Babe Stapp in the 1927 Indy 500. Dreyer went on to build Indy 500 cars in the 1930s many of which started on the front row. In addition, Dreyer constructed championship-winning sprint cars and midgets as well as quarter midgets called Dreyerettes. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing captured its first win in 2000 with driver Robbie Buhl at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla., and has fielded a variety of drivers including Buhl, Buddy Lazier, Sarah Fisher, Buddy Rice, Al Unser Jr., Sage Karam and J.R. Hildebrand. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has successfully qualified all 42 drivers for the Indy 500 in its history. DRR, who competed in Rallycross for the first time in 2015, captured the 2016 Lites rallycross championship. In 2021, the team campaigned Tanner Foust and Cabot Bigham in the Supercar division of Nitro Rallycross. Additionally, the team ran a selection of lites cars that included drivers such as Sage Karam, Conner Martell, and Lane Vacala.
