A car race winning celebration turned painful when a Nascar driver attempting a hanging-out-the-window celebration slipped and fell out of his car in trying to pose on the perch for customary victory celebrations.
19-year-old Nascar driver Connor Zilisch had won at Watkins Glen International, but got his foot slipping and tangled in trying to get out of the window, getting stretchered and ended up with a broken collarbone and left hand in a sling.
Zilisch said the next race on August 22 at Daytona might not be enough time to recover from the celebration-accident.
He was back at Watkins Glen International a day after his scary fall in victory lane, after the ecstacy and agony of Saturday’s Nascar race and Trackhouse Racing withdrew the Chevy that he was scheduled to drive in the Cup race Sunday at Watkins Glen, after the sloppy tumble, according to Guardian.
“First of all, I’m doing OK,” Zilisch told the broadcast of the Cup race. “Very grateful to be able to walk away from that, and I guess I didn’t walk away, but I’m very grateful to be walking today and to just be all right. Thank you to all the medics who took care of me, and everybody who reached out and wished me well. I do appreciate it a lot,” he said.
It was a series-high sixth victory for Zilisch though he was in trouble straight away as he hit the victory lane. Beverages get tossed about and these ended up sliming up his window perch.
“Yeah, I was climbing out of the car and obviously the window net was on the door, and as soon as they started spraying water, my foot slipped,” Zilisch recalled. He remembered vivid details of the fall. “The last thing I remember was being halfway down and falling, so I’m glad it wasn’t any worse, and that the collarbone is the extent of the injuries, but hate I couldn’t make it to the race today.”
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The August 22 at Daytona International Speedway race is obviously uncertain. “We’re still working out with all the doctors to figure out what’s going to be the next steps,” Zilisch said. The bounce back driver has already logged another injury earlier and shown remarkable resilience to return. There was a one-race absence at Texas Motor Speedway because of a back injury from a crash at Talladega Superspeedway, but Zilisch had registered 11 consecutive top-five finishes and five wins since his return.
The adrenaline shoot-off runs in the team. Zilisch had noted that Trackhouse teammate Shane van Gisbergen “had a plate put in once and raced the weekend after. So I don’t know if I’ll be that quick, but hopefully my young bones will heal fast, and I’ll be able to get back in it as soon as possible,” he said.
