{"id":46344,"date":"2022-08-08T16:13:42","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T22:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportstravelmagazine.com\/?p=46344"},"modified":"2023-01-12T11:57:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T18:57:06","slug":"travis-shumake-and-sean-dixon-opening-doors-in-nhra-drag-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sportstravelmagazine.com\/travis-shumake-and-sean-dixon-opening-doors-in-nhra-drag-racing\/","title":{"rendered":"Travis Shumake and Sean Dixon: Opening Doors in NHRA Drag Racing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Travis Shumake and Sean Dixon: Opening Doors in NHRA Drag Racing\" src=\"https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/sportstravel-podcast\/travis-shumake-and-sean-dixon-opening-doors-in-nhr\/embed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>At 37 years old, <strong>Travis Shumake<\/strong> may be new to drag racing as a driver, but he\u2019s definitely not new to the sport. His late father, <strong>Tripp Shumake<\/strong>, was the winner of multiple <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhra.com\/nhra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NHRA<\/a> titles and his mother, <strong>Susie Shumake,<\/strong> is a member of the Arizona Drag Racing Hall of Fame for her contributions to the sport. But it wasn\u2019t until recently that Travis decided he wanted to give it a go behind the wheel. And he is doing so in full knowledge that when he hits the pavement at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhra.com\/nhra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Heartland Motorsports Park<\/a> in Topeka for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhra.com\/schedule\/2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Menards NHRA Nationals<\/a>, he will become the first openly gay driver on the circuit. It\u2019s a milestone he doesn\u2019t take lightly and one that he is hoping will spark new conversations among the sport&#8217;s fans base, which over the years has leaned conservative. But his story isn\u2019t the only one that may spark new conversations.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_sidebar\">\n<p><b>More Episodes<\/b><br \/>\nTo listen to more episodes of the SportsTravel Podcast, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportstravelmagazine.com\/category\/podcasts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Shumake&#8217;s car, a 24-foot, 4,000-horsepower nitromethane-burning, rainbow-colored drag racer, will be sponsored by and feature the branding of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visittopeka.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Visit Topeka<\/a>, the city\u2019s convention and visitors bureau. As you\u2019ll hear from Visit Topeka president <strong>Sean Dixon<\/strong>, who joins the conversation, the convention bureau is looking to promote itself as open to all visitors and will be using the sponsorship to promote the upcoming and inaugural <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pridekansas.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pride Kansas<\/a>, a statewide pride festival that will be held in Topeka, September 17\u201324. For Visit Topeka, backing Shumake isn\u2019t just a sports sponsorship play. It\u2019s a play for new visitors and an effort to promote the city as welcoming to the LGBTQIA+ community.<\/p>\n<p>In this conversation, we talk drag racing, Shumake\u2019s journey to the circuit after being around the sport his whole life and how a convention bureau is looking to change perceptions by going all in on a sports sponsorship deal that it hopes will attract new visitors to the Kansas destination.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Among the topics discussed in this episode:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Travis Shumake\u2019s family history in racing (4:09)<\/li>\n<li>Why he decided to race professionally (6:30)<\/li>\n<li>Why he chose the Topeka race to make his debut (9:40)<\/li>\n<li>The importance of the Menards Nationals to Topeka (10:54)<\/li>\n<li>The evolution of Pride Kansas (12:30)<\/li>\n<li>How Travis Shumake views his milestone as the first openly gay driver (14:22)<\/li>\n<li>How Visit Topeka hopes to spark a new conversation about the destination (16:00)<\/li>\n<li>The importance to Shumake of a convention and visitors bureau as a sponsor (18:07)<\/li>\n<li>Is Shumake expecting any resistance from fans of drag racing (19:37)<\/li>\n<li>How involved Visit Topeka has been in other sports sponsorships (20:32)<\/li>\n<li>Shumake\u2019s expectations for the race (23:09)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>This episode is brought to you by:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.teamsconference.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-40581\" src=\"https:\/\/media.sportstravelmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/10030839\/T22_logo_color_dark-NEW-Dates-1024x227.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"142\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.sportstravelmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/10030839\/T22_logo_color_dark-NEW-Dates-1024x227.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/media.sportstravelmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/10030839\/T22_logo_color_dark-NEW-Dates-300x67.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media.sportstravelmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/10030839\/T22_logo_color_dark-NEW-Dates-768x170.jpg 768w, https:\/\/media.sportstravelmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/10030839\/T22_logo_color_dark-NEW-Dates-1536x341.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/media.sportstravelmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/10030839\/T22_logo_color_dark-NEW-Dates-2048x455.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At 37 years old, Travis Shumake may be new to drag racing as a driver, but he\u2019s definitely not new to the sport. His late father, Tripp Shumake, was the winner of multiple NHRA titles and his mother, Susie Shumake, is a member of the Arizona Drag Racing Hall of Fame for her contributions to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":46345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3036,4337],"tags":[7358,11464,11465],"class_list":["post-46344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motorsports","category-podcasts","tag-nhra","tag-sean-dixon","tag-travis-shumake"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/sportstravelmagazine.com\/travis-shumake-and-sean-dixon-opening-doors-in-nhra-drag-racing\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Travis 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