NASCAR Criticized for Endangering Cameraman

There was a scary incident at this weekend’s NASCAR event in Illinois when a car got perilously close to a cameraman.

Driver Connor Zilisch was celebrating his victory at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison by performing burnouts on the track.

But footage shows a near-miss as Zilisch’s car slides sideways directly at a cameraman who deftly stepped out of the way. Had he not done so, he would have probably been hit.

Perhaps more impressively, the cameraman didn’t even skip a beat. After calmly stepping out of the car’s path, he kept a steady hand, continuing to film Zilisch as the broadcast switched to his perspective.

However, NASCAR received criticism for having the cameraman on track at all. Many asked why the cameraman would be sharing the same space as cars sliding around doing doughnuts.

“It’s honestly kinda insane that they just send a guy out there on what is technically still a hot track,” writes Zach McGray on X, per Pro Football Network.

It comes after a motorcycle flew up and struck a cameraman at a recent MotoGP race in Hungary.

The cameraman, later identified as Joao, got extremely lucky as the out-of-control bike actually hit his camera as it somersaulted through the gravel trap and jumped up at the podium.

Multiple camera angles captured the terrifying moment and even though Joao gave a thumbs up to the cameras, he was clearly shaken up and checking himself for injuries. Joao later said he was okay but the camera was broken during the incident.