In a recent revelation British race car retired driver Le Mans racer Danny Watts has come out as gay, saying he had never felt able to be open about his sexuality while competing in the sport. The 37 year old who retired last year told Auto sport on Monday, “You feel like you have to hide it within motorsport because it’s a very masculine sport,” Speaking also to Gay Times, Watts said he had felt he would “need to live in the closet if I wanted my motorsport career to go anywhere. “There were enough gay jokes and homophobic slurs to go around, and I felt like if I lifted my head out of the trenches I’d be completely annihilated.” He said he had dealt with the situation by becoming “one of the worst of the womanisers”.
Auto sport said Watts, who was a team mate to Ferrari’s 2007 Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen in the Formula Renault junior series, was believed to be the highest profile European driver to come out. At the top level in Formula One, a grand prix world championship that started in 1950, there has yet to be an openly gay driver.
Twice a winner of the second tier LMP2 category at the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race, Watts is now focused on coaching drivers. Danny Watts has won the legendary Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race in 2010, has come out as gay.
He said he no longer had to worry about how teams or sponsors might react but had no idea what response his announcement would receive from a motorsport audience. The immediate comment on social media was supportive, however. “It shouldn’t be a story, but the fact it is says much about (the) culture of racing,” commented broadcaster and long-time F1 insider Mark Gallagher on Twitter.
The highest-profile European driver to come out so far, Watts’ career included Formula First and Formula Renault UK titles, British Formula 3 race victories and top times in the A1 Grand Prix. But despite these accomplishments, he felt relentless pressure to blend in, to have girlfriends, and eventually get married.
“I continued pretending to be straight for 17 years,” Watts confessed. “Eventually, something in me flipped, and I couldn’t keep it in any more. I came out to my wife, who told me she’d known I was gay for ages and she was happy I’d finally come out.”
Watts and his ex-wife divorced amicably and continue to work to create a loving environment for their son. But after the end of his marriage, Watts says, “my ability to keep it secret slowly unravelled,” and he began coming out to family members and close friends.
“There was obviously shock to start with but people were also very supportive, which was nice. So I thought if they’re cool with it, let’s go with it.”
