A Community Champion on the Track

It is worth repeating here, we cannot be inspired to do anything unless we see someone in our community doing it. That includes participating as a motorsports athlete.

Our numbers are growing, thanks to organizations such as Racing Pride. They are a portal for those of us who are motorsports athletes, team personnel, fans, journalists and content creators.

From that portal comes another young race car driver who has just landed a key ride in the Automobile Racing Club of America’s (ARCA) Menards Series. His name is Michael Klein. Based in the Cincinnati area, the 27-year-old Klein has been racing for 10 years.

“I started out in go-karts, dirt track racing, and eventually I moved into the open wheel scene. And the past couple of years, I’ve started to run stock cars,” Klein says.

For his ARCA Menards Series debut, Klein is driving for Wayne Peterson Racing this season. For Klein, it was a process getting to this point in his racing career.

“I just always was in love with racing and my parents never really had the resources or the connections to make it happen,” Klein explains. “After years of begging, we eventually got a go-kart when I was about 17 years old, and that’s kind of what kick-started everything.”

Klein continues: “We went there, we won some races, and then we eventually moved on to what are called dirt midgets, which are smaller versions of a sprint car. I did that for about five years. And then over the past couple years, I’ve really kind of stuck to more of the stock car kind of stuff.”

However, Klein noted that the ARCA Menards Series ride has been in the works for some time.

“I attended school at the University of Northwestern Ohio, and they actually have a program there because it’s a high-performance technical institute,” Klein says. “What they do is that they actually put students on ARCA Menards teams, and they go to the track each week and they help the team out.”

From there, Klein got the bug for stock car racing. His passion for the sport has shown to earn his seat in the ARCA Menards Series.

When you’re driving in the ARCA Menards Series, you could eventually get a NASCAR seat. At least in one of the national touring series — whether it is the Craftsman Truck Series, the Xfinity Series or the Cup Series. ARCA races former Cup Series cars, which serve as a basis for drivers to hone their craft towards making it to the next level of stock car racing.

Part of this journey is getting sponsors to back drivers so they can go racing. In Klein’s case, his employer came through with a sponsorship. However, his love of anime secured a sponsorship with VTuber Kori-Oujo. Klein is also working on securing sponsorships and community connections, such as STEM Punks, Right to Breathe and Drive for Humanity, an organization dedicated to helping deal with homelessness and hunger in the U.S. These are organizations he wants to help raise awareness for that are important to him.

“It’s just kind of helping those who are less fortunate or are going through hard times,” Klein says. “It’s a cause that, as someone who’s been through some hard times, it’s something that is really near and dear to my heart.”

Klein also connected with Racing Pride, an international organization to uplift LGBTQ+ motorsports athletes, crew members, journalists, influencers and other people who are in the competition business. Klein reached out to them before he came out, showing his support for them.

A few years ago, Racing Pride founder Richard Morris reached out to Klein about their Ambassador Community Champion program, where their members show their visibility through outreach efforts online and at motorsports events. Klein said “Yes.”

“I’m just so happy to be a part of this organization because, growing up, I didn’t see people like me in this sport, and it was something that I kind of thought I would have to keep to myself for so long,” explains Klein. “It’s just been so freeing, being able to be a part of that.”

There have been a couple of LGBTQ+ drivers in the stock car world in the past, such as Stephen Rhodes, Devon Rouse, Zach Herrin and others.

According to Klein, being out and proud is “very important because it’s still something where we’re not very visible to a lot of people. And unfortunately, I do believe that has shown recently. But my goal is to not give up. It’s to show anyone who is LGBTQ+, whether you’re gay, bi, pan, trans, nonbinary, I want to show you that there is a spot for you in this sport.”

As of this writing, Klein is scheduled to run with Wayne Peterson Racing at the ARCA Menards Series East race on July 25 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The series will also make a stop at Elko Raceway on June 21.

If you’re looking for someone to root for on the racetrack, Michael Klein could be your next stock car driver. He is already a champion for our community.