Out Motorsports Creates a Space for LGBTQ+ Racing Enthusiats

Story by Scott R. Lear • Photography by Kevin Adolf

Many people take their first step into motorsports through one of their community circles. When a Ford Mustang owners group or a university SAE club shows up at their first autocross or track event, there’s an obvious synergy. Jake Thiewes of Arlington, Virginia, created Out Motorsports specifically to lend a hand to members of the LGBT+ community who are looking to explore their enthusiasm for cars and racing but don’t know how to get involved.

“I’ve been into cars since I was a little kid,” explains Jake, who cites his early obsession with Matchbox cars and reading the makes and models off trunk lids in traffic. As a teenager, he never really found a way to get hands on with motorsports, but when he attended James Madison University in Virginia, he found that the fine arts clubs like band and chorus weren’t holding his interest.

A visit to the clubs and organizations office pointed him in the direction of Madison Motorsports, and he instantly felt at home. “I was driving my mom’s Ford Escape, but the club was super friendly. They went karting, autocrossing, mountain rides–and you can ride along even without a car,” he says. “It rekindled this fire I had and brought it to a full roar.”

He saved up his money the following summer, negotiated a small loan from his parents, and bought his first sports car, a 1995 Mazda Miata. In 2008 he began volunteering with NASA Mid-Atlantic, where he worked flagging, grid, timing and starting.

He drove, too, and while climbing the NASA ladder from HPDE to Time Trial, his Miata lost a few engines. In 2013 he switched to an E36-chassis BMW M3. Soon after, he nosed the BMW into the wall at VIR, so he went whole hog on transforming the car, stripping the interior and adding full safety, suspension and brake systems to compete aggressively in Time Trials.

Along the way, Jake realized that his joyous experiences with motorsports needn’t be unique. “I came out when I was 19,” he says. “I was met with zero resistance, zero issues. Everyone, from my parents to friends to colleagues, were super supportive. I got into working more NASA events, meeting more people in the LGBT world, and being more comfortable with myself in that world. There are no real venues for LGBT representation in the motorsport world.”

Given his own experience of being guided toward his school’s Madison Motorsports club, Jake decided that he wanted to help other potential enthusiasts in the LGBT circle find their place in the many motorsport venues across the country. “That [motorsports] environment has typically been viewed as very conservative, even good-old-boy, but that’s not really the case,” he explains. “We were met with nothing but positivity. I brought boyfriends to the events, and they were met with open arms. If you show someone that it’s okay to do it, they can see it’s okay. If one person shows up as their whole self, we’ve succeeded.”

In 2016, Jake and his colleague Tyler Longmire secured the outmotorsports.com domain and seeded the site with M3-related writeups that Jake had been posting to the Madison Motorsports forums. In the years since, Out Motorsports has grown to five regular contributors and covers all facets of the motorsports community, from autocross and rally to road racing, motorcycles and even towing and logistics advice.

A visit to Out Motorsports reveals a well-organized car enthusiast site, with hands-on reviews, event recaps and regular updates. “My whole mission is just to share our adventures,” notes Jake.

“If it keeps growing, that’s great,” adds Tyler. “I was invited to join our local auto press association and connected with other journalists in the D.C. area. I’ve been working with different automotive OEMs and their PR departments, making partnerships and going down a lot of different paths with press cars for review.”

“Motorsports is a great equalizer,” he continues. “Everyone is there for that one common factor: We want to go fast and we want to do it the right way. It’s such a diverse group of people, from the guy with the million-dollar motorhome and the GTS3 on the back to the Neon that somebody drove to the track. There’s diversity in backgrounds, diversity in types of people. If we can help perpetuate the reality of what this sport is, we’re making a difference.”

Comments

Displaying 1-10 of 126 commentsView all comments on the GRM forums

You'll need to log in to post.