Phoenix man working to become 1st openly gay drag racer in National Hot Rod Association

Travis Shumake, whose father, Tripp Shumake, was a famous "Funny Car" driver, has set out to continue his family's passion for racing and become a voice for inclusion.

Travis is hoping to compete as the world's first openly LGBTQ Funny Car driver in the National Hot Rod Association. He wants to be a pillar for inclusivity and engage new fans in a sport known for its conservative politics and the machismo culture commonly found on the racetrack.

"I want to open a door for people to feel accepted who have been around the sport forever, for drivers who are in the sport, or fans in the sport that maybe aren't comfortable talking about their sexuality," he said.

Shumake family legacy in Phoenix

Travis and his family are deeply rooted in Arizona and the greater Phoenix area and have been ever since he was a child.

Tripp, the patriarch of the Shumake family, grew up in Glendale and attended Glendale High School. This, Travis says, is where his father picked up his love for the sport of racing that would eventually be passed on to his son.

"I found ... a paper my dad wrote in the fifth grade, around 1959-61, about wanting to be Arizona's first famous Funny Car driver," Travis shared. "His passion was racing anything."

Travis' parents met when his mom was working on a race team and worked as a crew member, "which is also kind of unheard of for the time, you know. She was changing the tires and mixing the fuel in the oil and doing all of that."

"In the '60s, that was a big deal for a pretty, blond, tall lady."

So they fell in love and moved to central Phoenix.

Travis and his father raced shifter karts, which are mechanically enhanced versions of go-karts used for race training.

"He could never stop racing anything, so much that he stole my competitive go-go to do it better than I was doing it.

"I think the only thing I ever beat my dad at was BMX bike racing because I was taller than my dad and I could rotate the tires quicker," Travis said.

Travis said competitive go-karting together enabled him to bond with his father during a transformative time in his life.

"In my teen years as I was coming out and realizing I was gay, the thing that kept my dad and I closest was racing," Travis said. "He's a very strong Christian man and we didn't ever talk about me being gay. And I had never come out to him prior to when he passed, but racing was our thing."

Travis and his family have continued their deep and proud roots in the Valley of the Sun. He remembered visiting The Arizona Republic offices as a child when his mom worked selling classified sales ads for the paper.

"We've always been a central Phoenix family," Travis said. "There's always been a Shumake between Seventh Avenue and Central Avenue as well as Glendale. 85013 is my ZIP code for 34 years of my life."

Travis' parents have a photograph with big shovels at what is now North Phoenix Baptist Church on the corner of Central Avenue and Bethany Home Road.

'I wanted to reconnect with my dad'

A recent trip to Florida filled with unforgettable anecdotes and untold memories from some of his dad's closest friends motivated Travis to pursue his path to racing as a Funny Car driver.

"At the start of this year, COVID gave me one of those what-am-I-doing-with-my-life moments," Travis said. He took a business trip to Florida after being invited by some racing friends.

"I was able to hear these cool stories about my dad that I'd never heard before.

"I wanted to be around all of that. My dad died when I was 15, and then that chapter stopped," he said. "So I wanted to reconnect with my dad."

Frank Hawley of the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School told the National Hot Rod Association in June that "having Tripp and Susie Shumake’s son Travis attend was really special” and “maybe the ability to drive race cars is genetic because Travis did a great job.”

Working to raise LGBTQ visibility in racing

Travis' second reason is the future of racing.

He hopes that being a gay man in the sport will allow others like him to feel proud and invited to come to racing events.

NASCAR and racing more broadly have been celebrated for its female drivers as well as African American and Hispanic world champions since the 1970s, but there has been little LGBTQ visibility.

"My hope is to leverage my dad's legacy in the sport, my desire, and my diversity to show that the sport is open and not as conservative as it may appear on the outside," Travis said.

"Some of these extremely conservative, wealthy race-car drivers were taking off, they were doubling their money for the race, and just putting giant Trump stickers on all of their race cars," Travis said.

"My friends and people who are in the sport are like, 'No, no, we have to level the playing field. That's not true. We need to show that there's more diversity to this' and I said, 'Well, I'll just be that guy.'"

Travis hopes to show how diverse and open the sport of racing has become and he'll test the track to prove his point.

As an advocate for the LGBTQ community, Travis feels the pressure of being the spokesperson for a group of people who are used to feeling like they don't belong.

A recent accident shook his confidence. In November, as he was racing during the process to get his professional Funny Car license, he hit a wall and broke two ribs.

"I really hit a wall at 188 mph," he said. It was only his 18th time down the racetrack in his career. "That's pretty early to be in an accident," Travis said.

"The pressure that I was under was like, 'Gosh, just don't make gay people look stupid, be good. The only way that I can continue to break down this barrier and to like, be a great role model in the sport is to just not screw up and look silly.'

"And then I did that.

"So the pressure I'm actually feeling was just, I feel like I've let everyone down. Right? It's just like, 'I told you this fairy tale was too good to be true.'"

Travis knows that he is able to become an advocate and engage with this divisive topic due to a certain level of privilege provided by his father's legacy and his previous work as development director at the Phoenix-based nonprofit One-n-Ten, which works with disadvantaged or homeless LGBTQ youth.

One of the coolest parts for Travis has been his interactions with fans he sees at races.

"People will yell my name and I'll be taking photos with people who are gay and are at the races and they're like, 'You know, me and my husband have come to this race every year for the last 30 years. And we're just so excited that you're here. Thank you for doing this.'"

Looking ahead

Travis moved to New York at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic for work but comes back to Arizona for family and business. Travis also said he recently purchased a parcel of land in Pinetop that he hopes to develop and visit regularly.

He says becoming a drag racer was "always the master plan."

"I always knew this is what I wanted to do. And it's been interesting to have teachers or old boyfriends come out of the woodwork and mention me and say something like, 'I remember when you told me that this is what you're gonna do with your life and I just can't believe it's happening.'"

He hopes to continue his goal of becoming a professional driver and inclusivity advocate.

"There's a pressure to perform and to not set back in the movement or, as the representative of gay drivers, to make sure that I'm saying the right things and doing the right things to continue to allow that door to be open."

According to a National Hot Rod Association article in October, Travis "made a full pass under power in 4.009 seconds at 319.62 mph, speeding into the record books as the fastest LGTBQ+ driver across all professional motorsports."

Reach the reporter Steven Hernandez at steven.hernandez@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @The_HdzCo.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Travis Shumake of Phoenix working to be 1st openly gay drag racer