The 19-year-old who could rewrite Nascar history

Connor Zylisch I was running before most kids learned to ride a bike. At 19 years old, he is already one of Nascar’s brightest young stars, a Red Bull athlete, and a legitimate contender to become the youngest champion in Cup Series history. But getting there meant abandoning a normal childhood, leaving home at age 11, skipping high school, and adopting a lifestyle that few teenagers could imagine.

How Connor Zylisch became Nascar’s fastest rising star

According to the Centers for Disease Control, most children begin to recognize and avoid dangerous situations by the age of four. They are learning not to go into traffic, not to play with sharp objects, not to touch a hot stove. stuff like that.

Connor Zylisch has never been like most kids.

“I was about that age when I got my first go-kart. We lived on a cul-de-sac, and my dad would race me up and down the street. He tied a long rope around it to make sure I didn’t go too far. I don’t know how he thought that rope would stop me, but yes, that’s how it all started.”

Most children learn to avoid danger. Connor got better at it.

Zilisch soon moved from the cul-de-sac to the race track, joining his two older brothers on family outings to the local karting course. By the time he was five years old, Connor began competing in kart racing. By eleven, he had won the national karting championship and received an invitation to compete on the world stage in Europe.

Karting led to a move to sports cars at the age of 14, and Zylisch began his career in stock cars the following year. By the time he turned 18, he had graduated to Nascar’s Xfinity Series, and just a year later, Connor was competing at the top of the sport as a Red Bull-sponsored athlete in the Nascar Cup Series.

And now, at the tender age of 19, Zylisch finds himself in a full-time, multi-year contract with Trackhouse Racing. If his stellar pace continues, Connor will become the youngest driver in the history of the sport to win a Nascar Cup championship, the highest honor in stock car racing.

One could argue that Zillesk has always made it look easy, but during a recent meeting men’s journalWe find out whatever his journey may have been.

In fact, while Connor’s glamorous life would be the envy of anyone, his path to the top has been made of sacrifice. The first such opportunity came at the age of just 11, when Zilisch was called up to the major karting leagues of Europe.

The sacrifice behind Connor Zylisch’s Nascar journey

“My dad worked long hours throughout the week to make sure he could travel with me on the weekends. However, when I had the opportunity to go to races in Europe, he had to send me there alone and say, ‘Go figure it out.’ I doubt it was easy for him to do this to me at such a young age, but he trusted me and allowed it. As a family, we all had to make sacrifices to be away from each other, but it changed the outcome of my life, and I will be forever grateful for it.

Connor will spend his formative years touring across Europe competing in FIA kart racing, the fundamental on-ramp for future Formula 1 drivers. He made it to the A-Class finals in 2019 and became the first American in history to win the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy. He returned to the United States at the age of 15, at which time he began racing sports cars in the Mazda MX-5 Cup Series.

Again, Zylisch showed immediate promise, just missing out on the $250,000 prize during the last race of the 2022 season. However, his performance was strong enough to earn him the Rookie of the Year award, as well as the attention of some major sponsors. Around this time Conner was offered a seat in pro late model stock car racing, putting himself on the path to Nascar, but again, the opportunity came at a cost.

“Doing this was a risk for me that meant giving up any kind of normal life. I started online school in 8th grade and did that all the way through senior year. I never stepped foot in high school, and I missed that whole experience.”

After that things progressed more rapidly. From the start, Connor proved to be one of the fastest drivers on the track, scoring several wins and podiums in his first year. The following season, he was invited to the ARCA Menards Series, and after impressive performances there, was offered a multi-year contract with Trackhouse Racing to compete in both the Nascar Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series at just 17 years old.

Connor Zylisch on pressure, social media and growing up fast

After capping a highly successful full-time season with 10 wins and a record-breaking 18 consecutive top-five finishes in Xfinity Cup, Conner finally got his chance: a full-time seat with Trackhouse in the Nascar Cup with Red Bull sponsorship. It was an emotional moment for Zylisch.

“Honestly, it felt like this huge weight fell off my shoulders. All the work, all the sacrifice, on my part, on my family’s part…it was just that feeling of ‘I’ve made it.'” When you see artists on stage who stop singing and hear the entire crowd singing the words to them, that’s what it felt like, accomplishing what I had set out to achieve since I was 5 years old.

Conor immediately says he wouldn’t have it any other way, but a little digging reveals that life at the top of the world with Red Bull sponsorship isn’t entirely rosy. To hear him tell it, you know he’s never been busier: From February to November, Nascar spends a grueling 40-week season, with only two weeks off to catch your breath. Drivers get December and January off for vacations, and then life comes back on the road.

“By the end of this season, everyone is tired. Team members, drivers, officials… you see the same people every week, and everyone is tired of seeing each other, tired of being on the road. It’s literally a traveling circus, and you’ll need friends to get you through it. It’s a brutal lifestyle.”

As you can imagine, that kind of schedule doesn’t leave much time to do normal 19-year-old things like skipping class or getting arrested on spring break. Being a Red Bull athlete means constantly being in the public eye, and risking such a great opportunity is just out of the question.

“You definitely have to be careful. In today’s world with phones and having a big brand like Red Bull depend on it, you have to keep an eye on your every move. Sometimes I want to do something, but intuition suddenly comes in and says ‘You probably shouldn’t do this.’ Still, I’m making more money than any other job, so it’s hard for me to complain.”

And then, of course, there is another singular obsession of most 19-year-old males: the constant pursuit of the opposite sex. Of all the challenges Zilisch has faced in his first season at the helm of Nascar, dating may be the toughest.

“You know, I’ve had girlfriends here and there, but I don’t think any girl my age understands my life. The pressure, the stress, and how busy my life is throughout the week, being away on the weekends. Try saying to a 19-year-old girl, ‘Hey, I’ll go out 38 weekends a year’ and see how that goes. One day I’ll find someone who wants to be a part of this crazy life, but at my age that’s kind of hard.”

Can Connor Zylisch become Nascar’s youngest champion?

Speaking of pressure, adjusting to life at the highest level of competition has been its own struggle for Connor. His rookie season saw eight DNFs in the first 18 races, with no wins or poles through July. Zillich managed to score his first top 10 finish of the season at Sonoma last weekend, but Nascar Cup clearly holds a steep learning curve.

“I knew it would be hard coming in. The talent, the teams, the level of competition is so high. I sometimes have to stop going on social media and reading what people say about me. I know I need to trust my process and there are going to be tough days, but you just have to stay focused and pretend like no one is watching. You can’t let the outside world get to you every time you do something wrong.”

Nevertheless, the title of youngest driver to win the Cup has eluded Connor. Because he is starting out at such a young age, Zilish has three more years to find his rhythm and secure the record until the 2029 season, when he will be just 23 years old.

“It’s definitely a goal of mine, but it’s not something I’m pushing for. It’s the most important thing to me, you know? I have to make sure I’m not stressing out too much about my career. Obviously, I work hard at it, but I don’t want to cross that line my entire life. I’m still a kid. I want to be a kid. I want to do kid stuff.”

Connor may be a child, but he is clearly wise beyond his years. His advice for the next generation of drivers coming into the sport?

“Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. There have been times in my career when people laughed at me thinking that I had a chance to make it without the support of millionaire parents. I think that ‘I know what I can do and I will achieve my dream’ mentality always prevails.”