UCalgary student making noise in virtual racing circuit

A University of Calgary student is putting the pedal to the metal and representing the school on an international level, all from the comfort of home.

Connor Yeroschak, a second-year Design in City Innovation student, races in eNASCAR, the professional simulated racing series of NASCAR. 

“I started sim racing competitively about five years ago,” says Yeroschak. “I competed on the pro ladder and then went pro last year.”

Racers in eNASCAR utilize iRacing, which is the world’s leading motorsport simulation game, and they control their virtual vehicles on tracks that simulate real-life NASCAR stadiums using wheels, pedals and gear paddles that are hooked up to gaming computers. 

Instead of a burst tire or oil leak that NASCAR drivers must worry about, eNASCAR drivers have to be on the lookout for a laggy internet connection.

“It’s like any real race where you have mechanical issues,” says Yeroschak about the potential pitfalls. “You just have to go with the flow and control what you can control.”

On top of turning pro, when Yeroschak enrolled at UCalgary, he became eligible to race in the iRacing College Series, which is the collegiate-level racing series for eNASCAR. 

“Already having the experience of competing at the pro level, I was able to use that to compete at the collegiate level to good success,” says Yeroschak. 

After winning Rookie of the Year and capturing one win in the 2024-2025 College Series, Yeroschak has come out strong in his sophomore season, winning two of the first three races and holding a nearly 20-point lead in the overall standings. 

A win in any of the races or the overall championship can be quite lucrative, as a race win earns drivers $3,000 in scholarship money, and the driver at the top of the standings at the end of the season takes home $10,000 in scholarship money. 

While competing in the College Series, you can see Yeroschak blazing around the track in a truck decked out in UCalgary red with a large Dinos logo on the hood. The races are streamed on NASCAR’s and iRacing’s Twitch and YouTube channels, with races averaging around 20,000 to 30,000 spectators. 

“It’s always nice to represent a school you’re proud to be attending,” says Yeroschak. “NASCAR is also mainly an American thing, so not only am I representing the University of Calgary, but Canada as a whole.”

As the world of esports has really taken off, and people can become professionals in it, Yeroschak says the opportunities afforded by being in the community have been great. For example, his pro team owner, Steve Letarte, has flown him out to media days and multiple real-life NASCAR races. 

“It’s nice to have these opportunities that I’d otherwise would never have expected to have,” Yeroschak says. 

Yeroschak says he expects to keep racing even after his university days are over, and the skills he’s learned in marketing himself are transferable to other areas of life. 

He is grateful to all the companies that have given him opportunities and made the decision to work with him. 

“Racing in real life is one of those things that is hard to get into, so these companies give people an opportunity to do racing in a more accessible way.”