Travis Shumake has made a profession out of breaking boundaries, which is each harmful and spectacular when you think about he’s damaged these boundaries — and a few bones — in a dragster going 324 miles per hour.
“The fastest-accelerating machine on the planet,” he mentioned. “Faster than the space shuttle launches.”
Surviving these rides has made Shumake the quickest LGBTQ+ driver in historical past and, at a lanky 6 toes 4, the tallest in drag racing as properly. On Sunday he’ll topple one other barrier on the NHRA finals in Pomona when he turns his top-fuel dragster over to Gary Pritchett for the ultimate race of the season, changing into drag racing’s tallest homosexual group proprietor.
All that will sound just like the form of historical past that will get an asterisk behind it. However in a sport that’s all about sponsorships, even people who find themselves 6-4 have to search out methods to face out.
“This weekend I’m excited to move out of the driver’s seat and into the owner’s box for the first time,” mentioned Shumake, who plans to imitate the old-school homeowners he grew up watching by clenching a cigar between his enamel whereas standing among the many gasoline fumes on the beginning line.
“I’ve always been the guy in the helmet,” he continued. “This is my first race as cigar guy.”
Travis Shumake crosses the end line throughout a prime gasoline dragster run on the Ford Efficiency NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas on Nov. 1.
(Marc Sanchez / Icon Sportswire through Getty Photographs)
Justin Ashley, who led the highest gasoline factors standings for a lot of final season earlier than ending fourth, will enter Sunday’s closing day of racing on prime once more. However that lead isn’t comfy with three-time winner Antron Brown 44 factors again and Shawn Langdon one behind that. And since the Pomona races are value 30 factors per spherical, 4 different drivers — 2021 winner Steve Torrence, 2022 titlist Brittany Drive, defending champion Doug Kalitta and Clay Millican — nonetheless are mathematically in rivalry.
Austin Prock will clinch the humorous automotive crown just by making a qualifying cross whereas in professional inventory, Aaron Stanfield and Dallas Glenn, who each are chasing their first title, are 1-2 with five-time winner Greg Anderson simply 56 factors off the tempo in third. Defending professional inventory motorbike winner Gaige Herrera leads six-time champion Matt Smith by 123 factors in that class and will clinch the title earlier than Sunday’s eliminations.
Shumake was eradicated from title rivalry way back. He ran simply 4 occasions this season, qualifying as excessive as ninth and making back-to-back passes at 323 and 324 mph this month in Las Vegas earlier than deciding to surrender his trip in Pomona. However he discovered one other technique to make an indelible mark on the game he inherited from his father, the late humorous automotive legend and NHRA colour analyst Tripp Shumake.
That occurred two years in the past when Travis steered his rainbow-colored dragster to the end line of the nationals in Topeka, Kan., changing into the primary overtly homosexual driver in NHRA historical past.
For Shumake, that wasn’t a lot about making a press release because it was about being true to himself. If blond-haired drivers and feminine racers didn’t have to cover who they had been, why ought to Shumake, who has been open about his sexual orientation since highschool?
“It’s important to be who you are. And as someone who came into the sport later in life,” the 40-year-old mentioned, “it was important to address it early in my career.”
Not everybody was welcoming, with the rabidly anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church picketing the monitor earlier than his debut in Topeka.
“I definitely had taken some tough beatings in the beginning,” Shumake mentioned. “I think I’ve earned my stripes, if that’s the right word for it. I kind of finally showed up on the racetrack and that silenced some of the critics.
“So I think the road ahead is bright for me as far as that goes and we don’t need to talk as much about the LGBTQ side because we’ve already talked about it.”
The help of the NHRA, the primary U.S. motorsports collection to welcome feminine drivers in giant numbers — ladies have received 23 drag-racing championships, courting to Shirley Muldowney’s prime gasoline title in 1977 — was particularly useful, Shumake mentioned.
“The NHRA just does diversity better than anybody else. They’re very strategic and authentic,” he mentioned. “They’ve celebrated me in the right moments. They’ve grown alongside me while other leagues have gotten out over their skis.
“Sure we’re the fastest sport but we’re moving slow to make sure our fans see me as a driver, not a gimmick.”
In actuality, the largest problem Shumake confronted in getting began wasn’t discovering acceptance. It was discovering the cash to place collectively a group.
“It was one of the smartest and dumbest things I’ve ever done. But I bought it all. I bought the cow and the farm,” mentioned Shumake, who works at New York’s Ali Forney Middle, which protects homeless LGBTQ+ youth.
“I make a five-figure [income] at a nonprofit. How the heck would I do that? I started with just the chassis; literally just the metal tubes.”
That was simply the primary of many obstacles he needed to overcome. He crashed in a 2021 qualifying occasion, ripping a humorous automotive in half and cracking two ribs. His costly security gear was stolen from the pits earlier than a race in Pomona. And squeezing his NBA-sized physique right into a dragster cockpit historically constructed for somebody a 3rd his measurement has left him with bruises on his hips, cramps in his legs and common visits to the chiropractor.
The work and sacrifice are starting to repay, nonetheless, a lot in order that Shumake was in a position to signal almost a dozen sponsors this season. Now he’s making an attempt to pay ahead that assist and help by renting Pritchett, a top-alcohol racer and longtime nitro crew member, the seat of his dragster for his prime gasoline debut. Passing up Pomona additionally retains Shumake eligible for rookie of 12 months as a driver subsequent 12 months.
“He’s a racing icon in his own right and had put together the funding. So it just made sense for Gary to get some laps under his belt and for me to make some passive income,” Shumake mentioned. “That’s the dream, right? Millennial top fuel Airbnb owner.”
Name it one other barrier damaged.
