This investigation examined Patricia Nell Warren's gay classic Front Runner as a queer text. Queer theory has been traditionally applied to heterosexual contexts and texts to demonstrate similarities between gay behavior and heteronormative behavior. This investigation applied queer theory to Front Runner to determine what, if anything is queer about being a gay Olympic-level runner. While there is much in Front Runner that relates to American gay culture in the 1970s, this investigation focused on the running passages in Front Runner to assess the effect of applying queer theory to a queer novel. The investigation found that some passages were consistent with heteronormative athletic portrayals, while other passages emphasized the gay protagonist as tough and competitive, as if to establish a hetero-normative machismo for the protagonist. Other passages were simply typical of hetero-normative sport literature.