Note: Late last year, we received a letter from a Gaywheels reader in Croatia —a guy named Zach. ( Since he's not out in his home country, he asked that we not use his real name ) . Recently, Zack contacted us again to say that he'd penned a couple of brief articles, and he wanted to know if we'd be interested in running them. The first is below; it's a follow-up to a piece we ran several years ago on openly gay NASCAR driver Evan Darling.
Last year, I came across an article about gay NASCAR driver Evan Darling, right here, on Gaywheels.com . Since I adore cars and everything about the topic, I loved reading about his path to success, along with his fight for respect from other drivers and sponsors. A search on Google gave me additional data about him, and I was happy and proud to be a part of a community that has such a wonderful person as a role model.
Driven by my curiosity, I decided to contact him in March this year. I wanted to ask first-hand what was new in his life and career as a driver. The feedback was discouraging: because of his coming out, one by one, his sponsors started to retreat, and he couldn't finance his car or pay his mechanics.
Knocking on the doors of different companies was getting him nowhere fast. I asked if he'd tried contacting gay celebrities or gay-friendly companies. He'd had no luck there either. How disheartening, I thought, that Paris Hilton has her own motorcycle team while a truly talented individual was seeing his career fizzle.
Still, the economy has been anything but robust, so I asked if economic gloom had been one of the main culprits. To this, Darling responded that NASCAR is still "a highly viewed and profitable event." In his experience, even "gay-friendly" companies were not as open as they presented themselves to be. "They like when a gay person buys their product, but they are not ready to sponsor a gay athlete on a sports front, which is considered to be straight territory."
When we spoke in March, he was working as a mechanic and trying to work his way back into lower-profile races to attract new interest from sponsors. At the same time, he also worked as a driving instructor, helping younger and inexperienced drivers.
Only a few weeks ago, I was crushed when Evan updated me with the latest news. "Hey there, nothing new, lots of disappointments, looking for a job." He said he realized why gay people are often not out in sports, as finding sponsorship was proving impossible."We have a long way to go before we can call ourselves equal," he said. "I have lost almost everything that means something to me, so I am pretty bitter."
I could only offer words of support, sympathy and understanding—along with the hope that being gay will someday not dictate someone's success in life, either on or off the racetrack.
Zack
See www.gaywheels.com .
[ Editor's note: Darling actually updated Windy City Times on his life. The email stated:
"My main updates are that I am not giving up! I tried going back to my old dealership job and they rehired me on the spot. ... I went and got my tools, only to be told when I got back that they hired someone else. I let it go and a few months later showed up with a friend looking for an apprentice job to introduce him to the dealership, and I was told I wasn't hired because of something terrible in my past with the company. I was always 100 percent at that job and got perfect reviews!
"I also found out the new manager doesn't like gay people and that was the most likely reason I wasnt rehired. I have no physical proof so I am not going to pursue it but it still sucks! I have worked my ass off as an employee and as a budding racer.
"Coming out has proven to not be the smartest thing for me to do as a career move, but I don't regret it as I am paving the way for a future generation as well as having hopes of attracting an individual, company or celebrity who wants to be a part of something this big. I am the only representative of the community on this level and really believe there is someone out there who wants to help. I have always supported The Trevor Project and 'It Gets Better' and would like to continue doing so.
"I am focusing my efforts on The Smart Ride coming up in November for now as well as marketing for 2012. The Smart Ride is an HIV/AIDS benefit that is a bicycle ride that goes from Miami to Key West, and everyone is welcome! More info can be found at my website, www.edarlingenterprises.com, and there are links to my blog, evandarling.blogspot.com, as well as my twitter posts and Facebook fan page link." ]
