Devon Rouse (born July 18, 1998) is an American professional dirt track and

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

driver who primarily competes in

sprint cars Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 * Chevrolet Sprint ...

at local tracks in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. He also competed part-time in the

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

, driving the No. 43

Chevrolet Silverado The Chevrolet Silverado is a range of trucks manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand. Introduced for the 1999 model year, the Silverado is the successor to the long running Chevrolet C/K model line. Taking its name from th ...

for

Reaume Brothers Racing Reaume Brothers Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team is owned by Josh Reaume, and it currently fiel ...

Racing career

A fan of

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

champion

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

who hoped to emulate his career path from dirt to stock car racing, Rouse began

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

when he was three years old. He competed in the discipline until he was 13 and won six track championships at Shimek Speedway prior to its closing; he also competed in modified cars for six years. On his 17th birthday, Rouse received a

sprint car Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ...

from his parents and started racing at 34 Raceway. He finished third in the track's class standings in 2016, followed by second the following year. While vacationing in Florida in October 2019, Rouse befriended a

crew member who invited him to travel with the team for six weeks. In January 2020, Rouse tested a truck at

Myrtle Beach Speedway Myrtle Beach Speedway (originally named Rambi Raceway), was built in 1958 and was located on U.S. Route 501 near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The speedway was a semi-banked asphalt oval track that spans .The NASCAR Cup Series competed at the Sp ...

. He had planned to run the Truck Series'

Eldora Dirt Derby The Eldora Dirt Derby was a annual race in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race held at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. During its existence from 2013 to 2019, the race was the only dirt track racing event on any NASCAR nationa ...

Eldora Speedway Eldora Speedway (nicknamed "The Big E", "Auto Racing's Showcase Since 1954," and "The World's Greatest Dirt Track") is a high-banked clay dirt oval. Located north of Rossburg, Ohio in the village of New Weston, Ohio, it features permanent and ...

before the race was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Before the 2021 racing season, he joined

Fast Track Racing Notes Fast Track Racing (also known as Fast Track High Performance Racing or Fast Track Racing Enterprises) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes full time in the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series E ...

for the

ARCA Menards Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three national ...

test at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NA ...

. Running the Friday practice session, he was the 46th-fastest driver of 56 in total. He also signed with

to run the Truck Series'

Pinty's Dirt Truck Race The Pinty's Dirt Truck Race, also known as the Pinty's Dirt Race at Bristol and the Pinty's Truck Race on Dirt, is a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The inaugural race took place in 2021 in support of the NASCAR C ...

and

Corn Belt 150 The Clean Harbors 150 was a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series racing event at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa. The inaugural running of the race was on July 9, 2021, the first NASCAR national touring event to be held at the historic facility. This is t ...

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Bristol is among the m ...

and

Knoxville Raceway Knoxville Raceway is a semi-banked 1/2 mile dirt oval raceway (zook clay) located at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville, Iowa, United States. Races at the "Sprint Car Capital of the World" are held on Saturday nights from April throug ...

, respectively, though the former was aborted due to sponsorship issues and personal reasons.

Personal life

Rouse graduated from West Burlington High School in Iowa in 2016 and was a business administration major at Southeastern Community College. He worked at

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

Fort Madison Fort Madison is a city and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States along with Keokuk. Of Iowa's 99 counties, Lee County is the only one with two county seats. The population was 10,270 at the time of the 2020 census. Located along the ...

for three years before forming a detailing business. Rouse is openly gay. When he participated in the ARCA test at Daytona in 2021, he became the first openly LGBT driver to compete in an ARCA-sanctioned event. His Truck debut at Knoxville later that year made him the first such driver to race in the series since Stephen Rhodes in 2003.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Camping World Truck Series

Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rouse, Devon Living people American LGBT sportspeople NASCAR drivers People from Burlington, Iowa LGBT people from Iowa LGBT racing drivers 1998 births Gay sportsmen Racing drivers from Iowa 21st-century American LGBT people