by Jerry Bonkowski
Jay Blake has turned an unspeakable nightmare into a life of dreams. And his biggest dream of all will soon become reality.
After 26 years of owning and serving as a crew chief, first for a Super Comp team from 1999 to 2002 and then an Alcohol Funny Car from 2003 through last year, Blake is ready to step up to the big leagues of NHRA drag racing, as he will purchase and take delivery of a nitro Funny Car later this month.
“I’m excited, but we’re jumping into a big, big ocean,” said Blake, who is purchasing a nitro Funny Car from Utah-based car owner and driver Robert Schwab.
Schwab will remain with the team as chief tuner and will also teach Blake and his crew on how to operate a nitro car.
“Robert is really excited,” Blake said of Schwab, also the author of a 2023 published book, “Racing Hearts and Burning Cars”. “Robert is an integral part of the switch and making this all happen.”
Blake’s story is one of the most inspirational in NHRA annals. He was working as a mechanic when a forklift wheel and tire assembly exploded in front of him in May 1997, nearly killing him and ultimately costing him his eyesight, as well as his senses of taste and smell. While some may have never recovered mentally, let alone physically, from such a horrible incident, Blake decided while recovering in his hospital bed to dream of what he still could do and then set about to make those dreams come true.
He’s been turning those dreams into reality ever since.
Even when friends and family told him he was crazy, Blake’s dream was to own a drag racing team and serve as its crew chief. From starting out with a Super Comp team three years after his accident, to owning an Alcohol Funny Car team from 2003 through last year.
And now, Blake’s biggest dream of his life is about to come true. The 58-year-old resident of Marstons Mills, Mass. – who is presently the only blind crew chief in motorsports in the world (but you wouldn’t know it if you watched how nimbly he moves around his car and hauler at races) – embarks later this month to own, operate and serve as crew chief for a nitro Funny Car.
Along with Schwab, who will be a frequent visitor to Blake’s shop on the East Coast, Blake plans on spending the rest of this year updating the car as well as learning the differences between an Alcohol and a Nitro car. And come next year, Blake, veteran NHRA driver Phil Burkart and Schwab will hit the NHRA Mission Foods national event tour.
Blake has modest goals for his fledgling nitro operation, saying he wants to take “small steps” at first to get the team’s proverbial feet wet in the nitro class. But that could change quickly if efforts to secure sponsorship pays off before the start of the 2026 campaign.
“We’re planning to hopefully do four races next year,” Blake said. “We’re looking for marketing partners and that will be the key to fund the operation. So we’re not sure what races we’ll start at, but let’s face it, the phone could ring and we’d be doing 10 races all of a sudden.”
The enthusiasm of finally getting his long-hoped for nitro car is readily apparent in Blake’s voice. But he also admits he had more than a few episodes where he wondered if the day he’s long dreamt about would ever come.
“Oh yeah, I absolutely wondered,” he said. “There were many times I thought, ‘What do you do next and how do you move forward?’ It’s been heavily talked about the last few years that I needed to make a change. And things really fell into place once I decided to do it this year. It’s really been a blessing and I really think it’s meant to be. A lot of pieces fell into place very well and you have to go back to pinch yourself that this is really happening.”
Things have admittedly been slow competition-wise for Blake’s Alcohol Funny Car since COVID-19 hit in 2020, leaving the team to race only on a limited part-time schedule. And while the new nitro team will also be part-time to start, Blake definitely has plans to go full-time on the NHRA Mission Foods Funny Car circuit hopefully sooner than later.
To get the seed money to buy his new nitro car, Blake recently sold his Alcohol car and operation to the Florida-based family operation of Cody and Rich Krohn. Blake will continue to lend them a hand as they race both nationally and regionally in both the NHRA Mission Foods and Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.
There’s also another element of Blake’s new operation that is equally as important to him on a personal level. Ever since he began his Alcohol team, Blake has been an in-demand motivational speaker with his “Follow A Dream” program that serves to inspire youth and adults alike. Since forming the non-profit Follow A Dream organization two years after his accident, Blake has given his “Five Tools for Your Life’s Toolbox” (Positive Attitude, Education, Passion, Determination and Teamwork) speech to hundreds of groups and thousands of oftentimes awe-inspired audience members over the last quarter-century.
“We’re trying to bring the Follow A Dream program more notice and notoriety and getting it to a position where it’s nationally known and we’re giving our marketing programs a better opportunity,” Blake said. “The reality is it’s all about educating tomorrow’s next customers, inspiring the kids to get an education and to follow their dreams. That’s what we’re doing, too, trying to get an education and follow our own dreams.”
So between increasing his speaking engagements and working on the car once it’s in his New England-based shop, Blake is going to be very busy for the next seven or eight months. But he’s gone so far from his near-fatal accident that the challenge of running a nitro operation is just the next chapter in a best-selling life story.
“The opportunity is very exciting but also incredibly intimidating,” Blake said. “These cars are very volatile, but nitro is where we need to be. The Alcohol Series was a great class and is a great class, but it’s very exciting to go from Super Comp to Alcohol and now to nitro. It’s pretty incredible.
“The more involved I’m into it, the more intimidating it can be. Before, when I was thinking about it and talking about it over the past years, it’s been exciting and you can only imagine.
“Well, now the imagine is over, it’s reality and it’s like, ‘Oh boy!’”
