An Unbelievable Story of Overcoming Adversity

Today, Janet and I attended the annual Chicagoland Speedway/Route 66 Raceway off-site training workshop. We had the honor of hearing Jay Blake give a presentation. In May of 1997 while working on a forklift tire, it exploded causing massive injuries to Jay's face. It took 10 hours of surgery to reconstruct his face. Jay lost both his eyes, sense of smell and taste. While recovering from his injuries, Jay made the decision to follow his dream of working on a drag racing team. Jay created  "Follow A Dream", a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The result of his organization is that Jay is the only totally blind crew chief in the sport of racing. He crew chief's the NHRA Permatex Top Alcohol Funny Car. Jay's message of positive thinking to overcome adversity is nothing short of awe-inspiring. After his presentation, Janet had the opportunity to speak with him privately. Jay invited her to "hang out" with his team when they return in July for the Route 66 Nationals NHRA event on July 9-12, 2015. What Jay has accomplished is amazing.

The rest of the day was very informative and everything looks to be on track (no pun intended) for a successful 2015 season.

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