(WXYZ) — IndyCar Driver Conor Daly was in Novi on Thursday ahead of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix to speak to kids with type one diabetes (T1D).
Daly, who is the only known U.S. professional racing driver with T1D, will race Sunday in the Detroit Grand Prix for Juncos Hollinger Racing.
The event was put on by MannKind Corporation, which is sponsoring Daly's car during the Detroit Grand Prix. MannKind works to develop and commercialize products for people living with endocrine and orphan lung diseases, including T1D.
Related: How early screening is helping fight and detect type one diabetes before symptoms appear
Daly was first diagnosed with T1D at 14 years old after experiencing symptoms including weight loss and extreme thirst, according to an article in Healthline.
"It's been an interesting ride throughout my career," Daly told the kids on Thursday. "Diabetes has never actually stopped me from doing anything."
Hear more from Daly in the video below
During the event, Daly also worked with the kids and got on the go-kart track to give them tips and tricks for racing
Daly said that during an average IndyCar race, he can lose up to 10 pounds. During a race, he also keeps a bottle that has something with sugar in it that he can use if his blood sugar gets too low.
He also told the kids it was great to spend time with them because there aren't a lot of people with T1D around him.
"It's actually great to meet you all because I don't have a ton of type one diabetics in my network. There's no one else in my friend group that have type one. There's one engineer that I got to work with on a team last year who had type one," he said.
His car this weekend will feature a magenta and teal color scheme from MannKind with a tagline of "Tired of pricks?" that focuses on MannKind's and Afrezza's needle-free mealtime insulin that can be inhaled.
