Dennis Reinbold remains committed to his young driver, Sage Karam, and believes the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge has helped increase Karam’s public awareness.

Instead of battling it out with NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers on the racetracks on the schedule, Karam has gained some attention with poles and race wins in sim racing. As his team owner, Reinbold has also had to adjust to these unusual times because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Karam won the pole for the first two contests, at virtual Watkins Glen International and Barber Motorsports Park. He drove to victory in the Watkins Glen round and has been a solid contender in four of the five iRacing Challenge contests held so far.

“It’s been a great substitute,” Reinbold said. “A lot of people have tuned in to watch. Sage has done a great job. He is out there with two poles and doing really well, but also helping other guys get more proficient with what they do. He is doing what he can to help further the series at this point in time.

“When we return to racing, I think Sage’s iRacing success can help create more fans. I think it has. He is just a great race driver. I think he will come out of this ahead. He is definitely going to be prepared and ready to go. There is some translation into driving the race car. We were prepared with him as a team. We are still ready to go. I’m looking forward to things getting started back up.”

Reinbold has been an NTT INDYCAR SERIES team owner since 2000 and was a full-time competitor through the 2012 season. Beginning in 2013, he scaled back to a part-time program. Karam joined his team in 2016, and the two have been together at the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge ever since.

From 2016 to 2019, D&R competed in one race a season – the Indianapolis 500. The past two seasons, JR Hildebrand has joined the operation in a second car at the Indy 500.

This year, the team was set to run a more ambitious schedule with the hopes of returning to full-season competition in 2021 or 2022. Reinbold’s original plans had the team competing at St. Petersburg, the 104th Indianapolis 500 and the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. St before the race season was halted March 13 because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We were disappointed because we felt very well prepared going in,” Reinbold said. “We had practiced pit stops and worked on the big simulator. We had done a couple days of testing at Sebring. When you feel you are ready and prepared and it doesn’t happen, of course you are disappointed.

“But you have to understand the circumstances. I think INDYCAR did the right thing.”

D&R will reassess its schedule once the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to action. The Indianapolis 500 remains its primary focus, but Reinbold continues to work on expanding the team’s part-time schedule.

“We are in a wait-and-see mode and will pick whatever races outside of the ‘500’ we think we would be good at,” Reinbold said. “Now, at this stage, our preparation level on street courses is further along than other courses. We are pretty well prepared for Indy, as well. Those are the races we are pointing to at this point. I don’t know what is going to end up happening.

As a team owner in INDYCAR, Reinbold has been kept in the loop of the latest information and details for a return to racing.

“The communication with INDYCAR has been great,” Reinbold said. “They are open to discuss whatever they can, but none of us know what we are going to do. I think INDYCAR took the bull by the horns and announced the rearranged schedule. Will it get rearranged further? I don’t know.

“Meantime, we have iRacing. I think the NBC guys are doing a great job because it feels like a real race. It’s been fun to watch. It’s been fun to hear Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy and Leigh Diffey and others chime in on a race car on the track. That has been entertaining. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to every Saturday afternoon. I like that.”

INDYCAR racing and the Indianapolis 500 are part of Reinbold’s heritage. He came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time in 1969 and vividly remembers seeing Bobby Unser’s black-and-yellow checkered Bardahl Special. His first Indianapolis 500 race in person was in 1970. He has been to the Indianapolis 500 every straight year since 1983.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing began in 2000 and has entered 41 cars in the Indy 500 during that period of time.

“It’s a pretty special place, a really special place to me,” Reinbold said. “It’s a race I don’t plan to miss.”

In addition to owning the Dreyer & Reinbold INDYCAR team, he is also a well-known Indianapolis automobile dealer. The company specializes in BMW, INFINITI, Subaru, Cooper and Volkswagen brands.

Reinbold’s automotive business has also adapted to the changing times. It continues to operate successfully with some major changes to its approach.

“In the car business with the dealerships, we are working at it and doing the right things in terms of selling cars and servicing cars,” Reinbold said. “We put all of the procedures in place several weeks ago to be socially distant in all of these things. We have good procedures in place to where now we can work on the next thing.”

Although the in-person experience has been limited because of the state of Indiana’s “Stay at Home” order, Dreyer & Reinbold is able to sell cars online. By perfecting that process, Reinbold believes that will help his business when the world returns to a sense of normalcy.

“Our people are talking to customers, and we are doing as much online as we can,” Reinbold said. “The delivery of a car becomes simpler. Maybe at the end of all of this, we learn some lessons on how we can expedite selling a car and servicing a car because are more proficient at that now.

“The real-life experience in the car business is important. Anymore, people come in pretty well educated and prepared for the type of car they want. We can go over features and those things on the web and over the phone. From that standpoint, it hasn’t interrupted our business. We are doing it differently, but it has worked out very well.”

University of Indianapolis graduate Reinbold is hopeful a vaccine can be discovered and applied that will end the pandemic. He believes the economy will rebound over time.

The shutdown has also allowed him to work on one of his passions, a country music career with DRR pit stop coach Bob Corn. With Reinbold providing the vocals and Corn on the guitar, the “Dennis and Bob” duo has been to Nashville to record their music.

It has been so successful, “Dennis and Bob” have songs that are available on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Pandora and Amazon Music.