Travis Shumake broke barriers as the first openly gay driver in NHRA, and he has found motivation and acceptance as a racer and team owner in the sport.
Travis Shumake has made a career out of breaking barriers, which is both dangerous and impressive when you consider he’s broken those barriers — and some bones — in a dragster going 324 miles per hour. “The fastest-accelerating machine on the planet,” he said. “Faster than the space shuttle launches.” Surviving those rides has made Shumake the fastest LGBTQ+ driver in history and, at a lanky 6 feet 4, the tallest in drag racing as well.
If blond-haired drivers and female racers didn’t have to hide who they were, why should Shumake, who has been open about his sexual orientation since high school? “It’s important to be who you are. And as someone who came into the sport later in life,” the 40-year-old said, “it was important to address it early in my career.” Not everyone was welcoming, with the rabidly anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church picketing the track before his debut in Topeka.
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