CONCORD, NC :: Zane Smith felt he was in position to win Saturday night’s Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Super Late Model race at Concord Speedway until being forced out of the car due to carbon monoxide related illness.
Smith had been running in third and was biding his time, waiting to make the move on Raphael Lessard and Quin Houff when he parked his car at the entrance of pit road and climbed out. That forced the yellow flag to come out for the second time in the race and gave CARS Tour officials, and other competitors a scare.
“At the beginning of the race, the car was fantastic and we were just riding,” Smith told Short Track Scene after the race. “Sitting in third behind Houff. I think it was around lap 55, all of a sudden, turn three and four, my eyes starting burning a little bit. I thought it was the car in front of me so I wasn’t worried about it. Got to the frontstretch and I literally couldn’t see at all.”
Smith was unable to see and it would only get worse from there.
“Then, I turned into one and two and my throat clogged up. I couldn’t breathe from the carbon monoxide. I came off and I fully blacked out and then I got out and forced myself to throw up just to breathe. It was awful.”
When he got out of the car, he was checked out by medical personnel at the track who gave him oxygen, clearing out the carbon monoxide and allowing him to feel better. For Smith, it was one of the most frightening experiences he has had in racing.
“That was one of the scariest things,” Smith commented. “Anything where you can’t breathe, that’s frightening to me especially when you have cars going 130 around you on the backstretch. I’m all good now. It was pretty bad on the backstretch then they gave me oxygen and they cleared it all out.”
After the race, Smith was left to wonder what could have been had he not felt ill during the race and been able to complete the 100 lap event.
“To be honest, I don’t want to take anything away from anyone but I feel like I had that thing covered for the amount of speed they were going at,” Smith stated. “I was honestly going about 70 percent and they were sliding all over. It wasn’t even go time for me yet and that happened. It is what it is.”
