What’s worse than that dream where you can’t find your clothes? How about someone jacking your safety gear at an event?
That happened to NHRA driver Travis Shumake, son of the late Funny Car Champion Tripp Shumake, at an event in Pomona.
But the community came to the rescue: The younger Shumake recently got new Stand21 safety gear courtesy …
berkeleying bigots, man. Let the dude race.
Love that Grindr ("social networking app," lol) is a sponsor now. Hard to get more out and proud than that.
At a half a century now I'm happy at how far we've come in my life of accepting others. I'm also sad at how far we still have to go.
In reply to thatsnowinnebago :
After doing some reading, I don't see any mention of his being gay having anything to do with the stolen gear. Nor do I see where his being gay is holding him back from racing. Who are the bigots you speak of?
In reply to Toyman! :
Uh oh.... prepare for backlash.
Toyman! said:In reply to thatsnowinnebago :
After doing some reading, I don't see any mention of his being gay having anything to do with the stolen gear. Nor do I see where his being gay is holding him back from racing. Who are the bigots you speak of?
I'm there with you. Other than the established stereotypes that tend to follow motorsports, I was expecting to see someone had looted his suit or something. Maybe I missed it.
In reply to Toyman! :
The only out gay man in drag racing getting his gear stolen makes me suspicious of the motives. Stealing gear is a pretty classic move against a minority in any sport.
The fact that it took until 2022 for someone to both be out in drag racing tells me that being gay has most likely held people back from racing. I suppose it's possible that he's the only gay man who has ever been good enough to make it in the NHRA but the odds are pretty low.
Edit: to be clear, the assumed bigots here are the people who stole his gear.
In reply to thatsnowinnebago :
I assumed the same but did some digging. While I think the gear theft may have been someone with an agenda and a bigot, the NHRA has apparently been nothing but welcoming.
The news media has us all trained to go for the throat as soon as they put a story out. Their articles are written to lead you to an assumption, frequently a wrong one. I think we, as a society, need to stop assuming the worst of everyone. Labeling entire groups of people based on the assumed actions of a few does nothing but drive the wedges dividing us even deeper. Let's start giving the benefit of the doubt. Assume people are doing their best, not their worst. Judge people by their actions, not by the actions of someone loosly affiliated with them. At least until proved otherwise. Then you can lower the boom on them.
While I'm not in their market segment, I'd be happy for Grindr, j-date, farmers only, or furry mate to pay for my racing habit.
In reply to MattGent :
It's almost like racing is going mainstream.
In reply to Toyman! :
Several years ago, we were with a rather famous driver here at Daytona. I forget the situation, but he was like, Grab my car keys, they're in my driver suit.
And there, in his driver suit, just sitting in a trailer, were his car keys. Along with his wallet.
The take-home: Keep an eye on your stuff.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
I have a bad habit of that. My trailer was always open and everyone knew I had all the tools. It is easy to get the feeling that all racers a great and honest people. Yeah, just go grab what you need.
Unfortunately its not just racers wandering the paddock. I can't prove I've ever had anything stolen but I have had things go missing.
There's a difference between tools disappearing and safety gear disappearing. Nobody is borrowing a fire suit or hans device to switch out a broken wheel stud.
I've had days where long acre tire pressure gauges walk away, and I've had days when I've gotten home and had 3 long acre gauges found in my box (resulting in an email to organizers; I suspect someone borrows the gauge from me, someone else ask to use it's says it's mine and tells them where to return it's word spreads and anyone who finds/borrows a long acre ends up putting it in my bin box as word spreads like a game of telephone. On the flip side, I've never had a helmet or suit walk away or magically appear. You're also not mistaking someone else's fire suit as your own, there's zero potential for it to be an honest mistake or oversight.
Toyman! said:In reply to thatsnowinnebago :
I assumed the same but did some digging. While I think the gear theft may have been someone with an agenda and a bigot, the NHRA has apparently been nothing but welcoming.
Of course they have. Unless you are set up on a platform of hate no modern organization is publicly going to purposefully exclude an entire segment of the population. It's the quickest way of losing sponsors and members.
Doesn't mean they are actively moving against hate within the organization or its members. That lack of a proactive approach can lead to a belief that it is ok to be hateful.
As an example, how many black drivers has NASCAR had over the years? How long did it take them to ban the confederate flag? What was the backlash when they did ban it?
Hate flourishes when it isnt actively stamped out. It is no longer enough to passively fight against it, we have to take steps to actively get rid of it.
In reply to Toyman! :
Hence my ninja edit. I reread what you said and my reply, and realized I wasn't being clear.
Several years ago, IMSA had a thief that would hit the team trailers during practice or qualifying rounds. Took them several years to finally catch the man responsible.
Sometimes people take things because they're valuable.
Didn't JG or somebody from the magazine recently comment on the FR-S oilpan/engine issues talking about how important it was to avoid jumping to conclusions before all of the facts are known? And yet..."Grindr sponsors the first openly gay NHRA Pro driver" seems like it could've been the headline here, rather than implying a low level hate crime without all of the facts.
The NHRA doesn't get a lot of spotlight or discussion here, but they've been a leader in inclusion and diversity for a very long time. They've had female, African American and Hispanic drivers become popular champions at the highest levels. Like every organization, I'm sure they could do better but they don't have a track record of bigotry like some other series do.
They also give fans unprecedented access to the pits. Anybody with a ticket to the event can be within arms reach of the haulers, crews, drivers and their stuff. Restricting that fan access seems like it would be a bad thing for the sport, so the best solution is to take responsibility for your stuff.
It seems like this guy recently got his full NHRA license, and had previously been unsponsored. So I'm not sure it's accurate to say that Grindr came to the rescue when his gear was stolen. It seems like he'd been looking for sponsorship for a long time, and they smartly recognized the opportunity once he was able to compete at the highest level. The event in Pomona where the gear disappeared was the season opener back in late February. Would it really have taken them months to set up sponsorship after his stuff was stolen? That whole story seems like a sympathy play to me. The real story is that the sport's first openly gay man secured the sponsorship necessary to compete at the highest level, not that it was some response to having his gear stolen.
Drag Racing
*snicker*
I am such a 12yo inside.
Good on Grindr for stepping up.
Not what I expected from the title, thought maybe someone was spotted with the gear on a profile. Good for him I guess.
Hate flourishes when it isnt actively stamped out. It is no longer enough to passively fight against it, we have to take steps to actively get rid of it.
Ah yes, fighting hatred with hatred.
STM317 said:Didn't JG or somebody from the magazine recently comment on the FR-S oilpan/engine issues talking about how important it was to avoid jumping to conclusions before all of the facts are known? And yet..."Grindr sponsors the first openly gay NHRA Pro driver" seems like it could've been the headline here, rather than implying a low level hate crime without all of the facts.
I don't see how the title "Lost race gear? Grindr to the rescue" somehow implies a low level hate crime.
RevRico said:Hate flourishes when it isnt actively stamped out. It is no longer enough to passively fight against it, we have to take steps to actively get rid of it.
Ah yes, fighting hatred with hatred.
How is that fighting hatred with hatred?
93EXCivic said:STM317 said:Didn't JG or somebody from the magazine recently comment on the FR-S oilpan/engine issues talking about how important it was to avoid jumping to conclusions before all of the facts are known? And yet..."Grindr sponsors the first openly gay NHRA Pro driver" seems like it could've been the headline here, rather than implying a low level hate crime without all of the facts.
I don't see how the title "Lost race gear? Grindr to the rescue" somehow implies a low level hate crime.
The title alone doesn't. But bringing up the stolen gear in the context does. The gear was stolen months ago. This guy has been working hard to find a sponsor since last year, and Grindr came on board recently (months after the gear was stolen). The quote from the driver doesn't mention anything about gear at all. They seem like unrelated events to me, which is not what the title indicates.
Consider how different this comment section might've been if the article only talked about the current news story (Gay man lands sponsorship) instead of including the gear that was taken. Shame on the person that stole the stuff, especially if it was because of this guy's sexuality. But instead of simply celebrating this guy's groundbreaking achievement and good news, we're down here arguing because the article mentioned the stolen gear without adding that that happened months ago and is likely unrelated to the new found sponsorship. It feels like a click-baity, forced narrative rather than simply celebrating a milestone.
RevRico said:Hate flourishes when it isnt actively stamped out. It is no longer enough to passively fight against it, we have to take steps to actively get rid of it.
Ah yes, fighting hatred with hatred.
Pointing out and fighting hate is not, in itself, hatred. You do not have to accept someone domineering and hating others in order to be a tolerant person.
In reply to STM317 :
That time gap between sponsorship and the theft of his gear does change things a bit. I stand by my "berkeley bigots" stance though 
Cheers to Travis for scoring his sponsorship. Visibility for historically marginalized groups is awesome, and it's hard to get more visible than a Grindr-emblazoned top fuel dragster.
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