Sage Rennie Karam (born March 5, 1995) is an American professional racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 44 and 45 Chevrolet Camaros for Alpha Prime Racing, the No. 24 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing and the No. 66 Ford Mustang for MBM Motorsports. He previously competed full-time and part-time in the IndyCar Series. He is the 2013 champion in what is now the Indy NXT Series.
Racing career
Early career
Karam was born in and grew up in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. He raced go-karts at Oakland Valley Race Park in Cuddebackville, New York in his youth.
After karting, Karam competed in the 2010 season of the U.S. F2000 National Championship for Andretti Autosport. Karam won nine of twelve races and the pole in all but one race and dominated the championship. 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. 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. Karam won the Indy Lights title that year, becoming the eighth rookie to win the series championship.
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, driving the No. 01 car alongside Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Jamie McMurray, and the 12 Hours of Sebring in the No. 02, next to IndyCar drivers Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan.
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.
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.
With Rojas sidelined due to nagging back injuries, 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.
During 2016, Karam worked as a 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". Karam qualified 31st but drove an outstanding race to finish ninth, the second-highest-finishing rookie.