SPEEDWAY (May 31, 2022) – Dreyer & Reinbold Racing teammates Santino Ferrucci and Sage Karam charged through the field Sunday in the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 as they battled for top-five and top-ten positions throughout the 200-lap event in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Starting 15th in the 33-driver field, Ferrucci, the 23-year-old Dallas, TX, racer, had the fans on their feet as he fought his way to a contending position in the first half of the race and battled early race leader Scott Dixon for second on the lap 110 restart. Driving the No. 23 DRR Palermo’s Screamin’ Sicilian Pizza/Barrett-Jackson Chevrolet, Santino competed with the leaders in the top-five from lap 110 to 150 before Scott McLaughlin hit the wall on lap 151.
Great pit work by the DRR crews helped both Ferrucci and Karam gain several positions on each pit stop as the two DRR racers worked their way up the race standings.
The hot track temperatures and tire rubber made the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval very slippery and Ferrucci had to fight the tough conditions as well as wind gusts that made it difficult for the drivers to pass late in the 500.
Ferrucci swapped positions with Tony Kanaan, Alexander Rossi, Conor Daly and Helio Castroneves in the final 30 laps before having to settle for tenth at the checkered flag. It was the fourth consecutive top-ten for the Connecticut native after winning the “Rookie of the Year” honors in 2019 with a seventh place followed by fourth in 2020 and sixth in 2021.
“Our car was phenomenal in the beginning, and we felt great,” Ferrucci said. “Our Chevy was fantastic and hats off to the crew. I mean we were the best crew on pit lane. We passed so many cars in the pits and these guys did a phenomenal job. I am just upset that we started to lose the car near the end of the race in the final two stints. It was tough out there. We will go back and check it out. Wow, for an Indy-only team, I am very proud of these boys.”
Karam, the 2013 Indy Lights champion from Easton, PA, started 22nd Sunday in the No. 24 DRR AES Indiana Chevrolet and worked his way into the top 15 by lap 80. With outstanding pit work by the DRR crew assisted Sage in jumping up the charts and ran as high as eleventh. Late in the race, the track conditions hindered Karam’s chances to move into the top-ten.
On the final lap, Karam’s car was hit by another car and forced into the outside wall in turn two. Sage was able to walk away from the incident and was examined in the track’s medical center.
Dr. Geoffrey Billows, NTT IndyCar Series and IMS Medical Services Director, released a statement from his examination of Karam after the race.
“Sage Karam was evaluated and passed all concussion protocols. He is experiencing some muscular skeletal soreness and he will be transported to Methodist Hospital for further imaging and evaluation.”
After evaluation at Methodist Hospital, Karam was released.
Karam placed 23rd in the final Indy 500 results Sunday.
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.
