Travis Cody Shumake (born August 10, 1984) is an American drag racer, team owner, and LGBTQ+ advocate. He competes in the

NHRA The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsport sanction ...

Top Fuel Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of and finishing the runs in 3.641 second ...

category and is recognized as the first openly gay driver to regularly compete in the top level of any global touring motorsports league.

Early life and education

Shumake was born and raised in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. He is the son of NHRA Funny Car legend Tripp Shumake and Susie Shumake, a skilled mechanic and member of the Arizona Drag Racing Hall of Fame. After his father's passing in 1999, Travis shifted his focus from racing to competitive cheerleading, eventually earning a collegiate scholarship at

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1899, it was the third and final university established in the Arizona Territory. It is one of the three universities gove ...

. While at NAU, he served as student body president and was active in

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American social Fraternities and sororities, fraternities. The fraternity has 244 active undergraduate chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has ...

and athletics. Shumake earned the university's True Blue and Gold Award, was Homecoming King, and was named Greek Life Man of the Year.

Career

Non-profit work

Before returning to racing, Shumake built a successful career in nonprofit development. He held leadership roles at organizations such as one·n·ten, the

Clinton Foundation The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...

, and currently at the

Ali Forney Center The Ali Forney Center (AFC), based in New York City, is the largest LGBT community center helping LGBTQ homeless youth in the United States. The AFC both manages and develops transitional housing for its clients. AFC helps approximately 2,000 ...

, focusing on LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness. He has also served on multiple boards including

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

Charities 88 and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central and Northern Arizona.

Return to racing

Inspired by his late father's legacy, Shumake returned to the dragstrip in 2021. He earned a series of 250 MPH+ NHRA license through training at Frank Hawley Drag Racing School and by completing licensing runs at major venues including

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...

Firebird Motorsports Park Firebird Motorsports Park (formerly Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park and Firebird International Raceway) is a 450-acre (180 ha) motorsport racing complex, located in Chandler, Arizona, United States, about southeast of downtown Phoenix. Hist ...

Gainesville Raceway Gainesville Raceway is a quarter-mile dragstrip just outside Gainesville, Florida. It opened in 1969 and is most famous for hosting the National Hot Rod Association, NHRA's prestigious Gatornationals event since 1970. Kenny Bernstein became the f ...

and the

Texas Motorplex The Texas Motorplex is a quarter mile drag racing facility located in Ennis, Texas, United States, south of downtown Dallas. Built in 1986 by former funny car driver Billy Meyer, the Motorplex was the first National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) ...

. In 2022, he made his

Top Alcohol Top Alcohol refers to two different classes in professional drag racing: Top Alcohol Dragster and the Top Alcohol Funny Car. Commonly known as "alky" cars, both are akin in design to the premier Top Fuel classes, but less powerful (about ). In ...

Dragster debut driving for Randy Meyer Racing at the Menards NHRA Nationals in Topeka, Kansas, where he became the target of a protest by the

Westboro Baptist Church The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an American unaffiliated Primitive Baptists, Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, that was founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. It is widely considered a hate group and a cult, and is known for Prot ...

. He responded by leaning into his identity, debuting rainbow parachutes sponsored by

Grindr Grindr () is a location-based social networking and online dating application for gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender people. It was one of the first geosocial apps for gay men when it launched in March 2009, and has since become the large ...

. In his second race in Top Alcohol, driving the

Sheetz Sheetz, Inc. is an American chain of convenience stores. Its stores, which are open 24/7 year-round, offer made-to-order fast food, and most include a gas station, while a few locations are full-scale truck stops, offering showers and a laundrom ...

dragster, Shumake advanced to the semifinals of the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pennsylvania on back-to-back hole shot wins.

Top Fuel

Shumake earned his Top Fuel license in the fall 2023 behind the wheel of a dragster he purchased from Scrappers Racing - Mike Salinas. He made his professional debut at the 2024 NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix. Shumake finished 23rd in the 2024 Top Fuel Points Championship. In March 2025, Shumake set Top Speed of Eliminations at the Arizona Nationals with a 330.88 MPH pass in the first round against former world champion

Doug Kalitta Doug Kalitta (born August 20, 1964) is an American auto racing driver from Ypsilanti, Michigan, and owner of airline Kalitta Charters. He started racing in open-wheel cars on an oval. Kalitta won the 1994 USAC Midget rookie of the year title and t ...

. In April 2025, Shumake was profiled in the annual list of Drag Racing's "Movers, Shakers, and Deal Makers." Highlighting both his recent on-track success and quick assent into the top of the sport, the article fittingly leads with "The easiest way to get Travis Shumake to do something is to try and tell him he can’t." While Shumake currently owns his race team, Shumake Racing is run as team car to Jasmine Salinas under the Scrappers Racing umbrella. He is currently pursuing sponsorship to run additional races in the 2025 season.

Personal life

Shumake is openly gay and has been a visible advocate for inclusion in motorsports. He was featured in the 2024 Out 100 list and was the 2024

Stonewall Columbus Stonewall Columbus is a nonprofit organization serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) population of Columbus, Ohio. The organization is located in the Short North district of Columbus. Stonewall Columbus is the organi ...

Champion of Pride. In 2023, he was named

Compete Magazine ''Compete Magazine'' is an American LGBTQ niche market health, fitness, and sports magazine and sporting events company. Compete is published by Scottsdale, Arizona-based Media Out Loud, LLC's Compete Sports Media division. The magazine is publi ...

Professional Athlete of the Year. Shumake regularly appears in publications such as

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

Outsports ''Outsports'' is a sports news website concerned with LGBTQ issues and personalities in amateur and professional sports. The company was founded in 1999 by Cyd Zeigler, Jr. and Jim Buzinski. ''The Outsports Revolution'' ( Alyson Publications), ...

Queerty ''Queerty'' is an online magazine and newspaper covering gay- and LGBTQ-oriented entertainment and news, founded in 2005 by David Hauslaib. As of June 2015, the site had more than five million monthly unique visitors. History ''Queerty'' was ...

, and the Human Rights Campaign Magazine. Interestingly, almost two decades before his racing success, he appeared on the cover of a 2005 The Advocate issue as a Future Gay Leader of America. He became engaged to his partner, Daryl, on Christmas Night 2024 on the deck of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Staten Island Ferry The Staten Island Ferry is a fare-free passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs through New York Harbor between the Boroughs of New York City, New York City boroughs of Manh ...

. Their engagement was covered by Outsports and several other LGBTQ+ media. In 2024 he was profiled in ''Harder Better Faster Stronger'', an episode of the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

documentary series ''

The Passionate Eye ''The Passionate Eye'' is a Canadian documentary television series that showcases documentary programming focusing on topics of news, current affairs, politics, and social issues. Airing on CBC Television and CBC News Network, the program airs a m ...

'' directed by

Brent Hodge Brent Hodge (born July 9, 1985) is a Canadian-New Zealander documentary filmmaker and entrepreneur. He is best known for his documentaries '' I Am Chris Farley'', '' A Brony Tale'', '' The Pistol Shrimps'', ''Freaks and Geeks: The Documentary'', ...

."Meet 'the fastest gay on Earth'"

, October 23, 2024.

NHRA Licenses & Performance Milestones

*Super Comp Dragster (2021) *Nostalgia Funny Car/Top Alcohol Funny Car (2021) *Nitro Funny Car - (2021) Not submitted passes (3.94 ET @319 MPH) *

Dragster (2022) *Top Fuel Dragster (2023) *Top Speed - 330.88 MPH (March, 2025) *Quickest ET - 3.71 Seconds (November, 2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shumake, Travis 1984 births Living people American racing drivers LGBTQ racing drivers American gay sportsmen Racing drivers from Arizona 21st-century American LGBTQ people