“I Was Seeing Stars”: Connor Zilisch’s ‘Miserable’ ARCA Experience Should Put a Rest to ‘Are NASCAR Drivers Athletes?’ Debate & Here’s Why

Connor Zilisch, ready to make his Cup debut at COTA this Sunday, started his NASCAR journey with the ARCA Menards Series, securing a second-place finish in his first race. The following year, as a full-time driver in his #28 Chevy, Zilisch won seven races [total] and also ended the season as runner-up in the ARCA Menards East Series.

Recently, Zilisch opened up about a particularly challenging experience during an ARCA race, where despite physical discomfort, he managed to grab the chequered flag.

During the 12 Questions segment of Jeff Gluck, when Zilisch was asked about a race where he felt miserable inside the car, he shared, “I’d probably say Michigan in an ARCA car. My helmet blower wasn’t working… My ARCA car, for some reason, was super hot. At Michigan, it’s wide open. That was my first race on a big track — my first intermediate — and my throttle pedal was unbearably hot.”

“We were wide open, so I couldn’t take my foot off of it. Under caution, I was using my left foot on the throttle (to give his right foot a break). It was miserably hot inside the car. I remember getting out for my victory lane interview, and I was seeing stars,” Zilisch recalled.

When asked if he feared passing out during his victory lane celebration, Zilisch admitted that he could barely think straight during the interview. It was his first experience with the right-side glass fully sealed, operating flat out with a blistering hot engine beside him.

He contrasted this with his subsequent experiences, noting that since moving to the Xfinity car, he has never felt anything as scorching as that ARCA race car. Now, with cooling shirts and other technology, it’s like night and day compared to those miserable conditions.

Are NASCAR drivers athletes?

Despite being confined to their cars for stretches of 4 to 5 hours during NASCAR Cup races, drivers must contend with internal conditions heavily influenced by the external environment.

The engines heat up considerably from continuous operation, and with no air conditioning systems within their cars, drivers rely solely on hydrating beverages and cooling shirts to regulate their body temperatures.

Even with these mitigations, drivers occasionally struggle with health-related issues due to the extreme conditions. Leigh Diffey, a seasoned commentator, affirmed this perspective during an interview with Awful Announcing.

Challenged by the host’s reference to other sports athletes questioning the athleticism of race car drivers, Diffey defended the physical demands faced by these drivers, labeling such skepticism as foolish, irrespective of its source.

He emphasized that such views are not only misguided but also disparaging to race car drivers, whom he regards as among the world’s toughest athletes.

Chase Briscoe, another voice in the racing community, took to social media earlier this year, to satirize the ongoing debate over whether race car drivers are true athletes. Posting an AI-generated video depicting himself engaged in various athletic activities, he sarcastically remarked, “And they say racecar drivers aren’t athletes,” spotlighting the rigorous physical challenges drivers face in motorsports.

About the author

Neha Dwivedi

Neha Dwivedi is an experienced NASCAR Journalist at The SportsRush, having penned over 5500 articles on the sport to date. She was a seasoned writer long before she got into the world of NASCAR. Although she loves to see Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch win the races, she equally supports the emerging talents in the CARS Late Model and ARCA Menards Series.. For her work in NASCAR she has earned accolades from journalists like Susan Wade of The Athletic, as well as NASCAR drivers including Thad Moffit and Corey Lajoie. Her favorite moment from NASCAR was witnessing Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. win the championship trophies. Outside the racetrack world, Neha immerses herself in the literary world, exploring both fiction and non-fiction.

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