Conor Daly Says He Lost 12 Pounds During IndyCar Race in Indianapolis

IndyCar drivers at Indianapolis Motor Speedway's GMR Grand Prix expecting the 14-turn road course to provide the day's biggest challenge were proven wrong early Saturday afternoon.

It wasn't the track the racers had to worry about; it was the heat. 

As temperatures soared above 90 degrees at IMS, some drivers began overheating to an extreme degree.

Indiana native Conor Daly, who has driven at the track professionally since 2013, tweeted that he lost 12 pounds during the race.

"Man, I thought I was going to die after the race," Daly told Jim Ayello of the Indianapolis Star. "All my body cramped. It was terrible. [That] was worse than I've ever felt after a race. I had to sit down for 45 minutes after the race. [My] heart rate was still above 140." 

The GMR Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500, the sport's two biggest events at IMS, are normally run in May, but both were pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Daly finished 12th overall, and seventh-place driver Josef Newgarden told Ayello it was the hottest race he's ever competed in. 

As bad as those two felt, the didn't have nearly as tough an outing as Colton Herta, who was unable to drink water in his car for nearly two hours after his water bag malfunctioned at the start of the race. 

"I was pretty loopy at the end there," Herta said, per Ayello. "I hydrated a bunch at the beginning. I think that's what saved me. But my head was spinning, and I was close to kind of falling over when I got out of the car."