IF YOU BUILD IT…

He took the fast track into his father’s footsteps and sped into the history books.

Meet NHRA Top Fuel team owner & driver, Travis Shumake

At 35, while quarantined in his New York City apartment, Travis put pin to paper on fulfilling a childhood dream, lost with his father’s death.

Less than four years later, the former college cheerleader and foster parent, is wrangling a 335 MPH, 12,000 HP Top Fuel Dragster in his rookie season as the first openly gay owner and driver in the highest level of any touring global motorsport.

Don’t tell him we told you, but at 319 MPH, he’s also the fastest gay on earth.

*planes take off and land way slower, relax.

Born to race, Travis' late father Tripp was a dominant force in the NHRA for decades, winning multiple titles. His mother Susie was a mechanic and is a member of the Arizona Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Travis grew up in Phoenix doing what he considered to be average kid things - going to church, camping with famous NHRA drivers, and simulating burnouts in the Nitro Funny Car parked in the family garage…but not until after cheerleading practice.

Travis was keeping the family tradition alive, racing competitive shifter karts, until Tripp’s death in a 1999 motorcycle accident.

His universities Student Body President and Homecoming King, this published author spends his “off weekends” as a lead wedding planner at one of New York’s top wedding planning firms while maintaining a career as a non-profit development officer at the Ali Forney Center.

He’s a fan and driver favorite who is turning heads on and off the track as an authentic new voice in motorsports…just like his dad. This self-proclaimed karaoke king and member of the Phoenix Business Journal’s 40-under-40 has the presence, personality, and poise brands and fans crave.