Giselle Zarur

Some interesting history will be made on Fox Deportes’ coverage of the Daytona 500 Sunday, as Giselle Zazur will become the first Latina pit reporter at that race. Zazur will be calling the Fox Deportes race coverage alongside Tony River and Jessi Losada. She spoke to AA Friday and said she’s fired up for this opportunity, and  hopes she can provide some inspiration to future generations.

“I’m super excited. It will be my first time at Daytona, it’s the first time that a Latina woman will be reporting from the pit lane, so I’m humbled and honored to be the first one, and I hope that I will be not the last one. For me, it’s a big responsibility to open the road for the next generation, for them to continue looking to achieve their goals, to follow their dreams. For me, it’s a big opportunity, of course, but it comes with a lot of responsibility, because I know there are a lot of Latina girls and women that want to follow their dreams and see that it is possible.”

Zazur has spent a decade-plus covering motorsports, but said Daytona is still a new level for her.

“It’s a massive event. The name by itself, ‘The Great American Race.’ It’s like the Super Bowl for NASCAR. It’s massive, the track is massive. Even though I’m used to being there for Formula 1 races, all the eyes are here with the start of the season, everyone is expecting, all the sponsors, everyone is here. It’s huge, it’s messy, and I think it’s a great place for me to start; it’s a challenge, and I love challenges, so it’s great for me to be here.”

Zazur was born in Mexico City, and began covering motorsports there for Mexico’s Televisa Deportes in 2010. She also worked with Canal F1 Latinoamérica for much of the last decade. She said she’s done a lot of different motorsports coverage over the past decade, and she’s always enjoyed it, with some of her love of motorsports coming from her father.

“I started covering motorsports in 2010, when I lived in Mexico. I’m from Mexico City, so I lived there, and I was working with Televisa Deportes, s0 I started in 2010. And in 2011, I started travelling all over the world, first with Televisa, then with Canal F1 Latin America, doing almost every race. That was with Formula 1, and then I started doing some Formula E races, and the rally WRC races. It’s been a long journey, fun, of course, but full of challenges and learning. I was a fan before, I used to see all the races with my dad, he’s a big Formula 1 fan, NASCAR fan, so it was great to watch the races with him.”

There have been plenty of other sports that Zazur has covered at a high level too, including soccer and tennis. She said the main goal for her is compelling stories.

“When I think of all the sports, I don’t care which sport it is, what I love about sports is that there’s always a good story to tell. You never know what’s going to happen. It never ends until it ends. There’s always a story, or something that can change the story. That’s why I love sports, and that’s why I’m a sports journalist.”

Even with that, though, Zazur said motorsports provide an adrenaline boost of their own.

“But if I’m talking specifically about motorsports, it’s about adrenaline; not only the adrenaline of watching racing, but the adrenaline of being there, and being prepared for anything. In racing, anything can happen. So I think that’s the most important thing; you have to be alert, you have to have eyes all over your body, you have to be aware of every detail. So I love that.”

Zazur has worked for Fox Deportes since 2019. She said moving to the U.S. and adjusting to a new network has sometimes been a challenge, but she’s thrilled with the family she’s found.

“I moved to LA in November 2018, and started at Fox Deportes in 2019. It has been a pleasure, to be honest, to work at Fox Deportes. It is a huge organization, and when you move from one country to another, it is obvious that you’re afraid or that you have doubts about your future and what it can be. It’s another country, it’s another language, and everything. But in Fox Deportes, I have found a family; I feel like home. And they are giving me this opportunity to be here today. They have my back, and I’m very proud to be part of this family.”

And she said she hopes her trailblazer moment Sunday is one that leads to many more Latina voices on NASCAR coverage in the years ahead.

“I hope not to be the only Latina to do it. Let’s keep embracing all the women.”

[Photo via NASCAR.com]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.