INDIANAPOLIS — The goal of every driver in Sunday’s 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 is to be the first across the Yard of Bricks on lap 200.
The key to getting that victory is a narrow window of 20 laps — from lap 180 to 200 — where a driver has to be extremely focused or watch a victory slip away.
For Nazareth, Pa., racer Sage Karam, a high school senior and wrestler, the wrestling term ‘short time’ fits right into the mental game plan he’s nurtured over the years in the circle.
Karam, the son of legendary high school wrestling coach Jody Karam, starts 30th on the inside of Row 11 on Sunday in his first Indy 500 race.
“The day Sage was born there was a TV on in his hospital room and an IndyCar race was on,” Jody said. “I kind of made the decision for him to be a racer and we bought him a go-kart when he was 4.”
The Indy 500 is a race which Sage has been dreaming about since he was 8.
“I started wrestling before I started racing and we always felt that I would be a wrestler, but, I fell in love with the go-kart,” he said. “Growing up in Nazareth and living near the Andrettis, I always wanted to be a race car driver like them and we were good friends and that’s how it all got started.”
Jody was Michael Andretti’s fitness trainer when he drove IndyCars and it was Michael who convinced Jody to get Sage a go-kart.
Now, at age 19, he’s the fourth-youngest driver ever to make the 500 field and is one of seven rookies this year.
But his dream of racing at Indy almost didn’t happen.
The family was struggling to keep up with the expenses in racing and the results were not there for Sage.
“We went to the go-kart course at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when I was 9 and I had just finished 15th in a race the other weekend,” he said. “Dad told me that we couldn’t keep doing it financially. He said we need to win to keep doing this and I won both races that weekend.”
Following that weekend, Karam has been on a course destined to land him at Indianapolis.
He earned the rookie of the year honors in the USF2000 and Star Mazda series while finishing third in the points in Star Mazda in 2012 and winning the title for the USF2000 series at age 15 in 2010.
At age 13, he was the youngest winner of the Skip Barber Shootout.
Last year, he won three times in the 12-race Indy Lights season to capture the series’ title and rookie of the year honors.
He’s the first driver to compete in all levels of the Road to Indy program, where he became the only driver ever to win races at each level.
His 500 qualifying run didn’t go as planned, as there was a set-up issue with the car.
“The first day went pretty smooth for qualifying,” he said. “I went flat out for all four laps and I went as fast at the car would allow me to go. It’s a shame that we had an issue, otherwise I would have had a decent car and been in the top 15.
“When it’s third period in wrestling and it’s a one-point match or it’s tied and you’re dead tired, you don’t get the feeling anywhere else of not wanting to quit,” he said. “When it’s lap 180 here and you are running in the top 10 and you have to put together those last 20 laps, that’s when the wrestling training and being on the mat will come into play.”
Sage compiled a 29-5 wrestling record this year as a senior at Nazareth high school despite having to miss a month as a result of racing obligations, which included a run in the 24 hours of Daytona.
He placed fourth in regionals in his sophomore and junior years, and only the top three go to states. He also missed his high school prom since he was qualifying for the 500.
Come Sunday he’ll accomplish that dream he began thinking about 11 years ago, of racing in the Indianapolis 500.
The next dream is to win the Indy 500.
A tall task, but not too tall for a seasoned wrestler who knows that when it’s the third period, only the weak quit.
Comments are closed.