A Rising Star Gone Too Soon. Remembering Blake Copson
/It has been about 15 hours since I received the first of many messages stating that Blake had passed away. It has also taken me that long to get my thoughts together enough to write anything coherent regarding the loss.
While I was driving home from the race track yesterday, my phone and my emotions exploded in one fail swoop. The message that I received was “Blake Copson Died”. To say that I was confused and shaken might be an understatement, and based on my response of “Excuse me”, you could tell that I was in disbelief regarding what I had just heard. Shortly after that though, I became inundated with messages regarding the situation. It was at that moment that I knew I lost a friend, Joe lost a son, and we all lost one of our biggest rising stars.
The outpouring of heartbreak and affection for Blake has been overwhelming since the news broke on social media. Tributes and thoughts about Blake from all over the racing community. The one thing that keeps getting said over and over is “we will miss that smile” and even for me that reigns true. That smile is the thing that I personally think about when I think of Blake.
For the last 30 plus years, I have seen talent come and go, talent wasted, egos destroy careers, along with the good and bad sides of our sport. I have seen plenty of the “Next Big Thing” when it came to drivers in drag racing. This time it was completely different though, this time it was like witnessing something special, one of those “once in a lifetime” type drivers that had the skills, personality, and “it” factor to really become the best.
I am not one to typically discuss publically the conversations that I have with others, but I want to share a little of a conversation I had late one night on the phone with Blake’s tuner, who in his own right knows a little something about our sport, and that’s Josh Ledford. I had called Josh to talk about Blake’s dominance all season as part of our 2020 highlights. Josh has seen and worked with plenty of people over his career, but I could tell in his voice that this situation and this kid was different. He went on to describe how Blake just had it, he knew when something was going on with the car during a run when it happened, and could describe it. Josh told me that there were times that he thought Blake was crazy, there is no way this kid knows that much so soon, but then he would look at the data and the graphs and told me that Blake was spot on with exactly what was happening. It’s a special and rare talent that a lot of people don’t have.
Not only was Blake an immensely talented race car driver, but he was also humble about his accomplishments, at least when I was around that is the impression I got. He was also one of the most appreciative drivers in our industry when it came to photographers, videographers, and the media. Numerous times that I would run into Blake at the races he would come up with that huge smile on his face and thank me for what I do, compliment me on my work, and small things like that. For a lot of us journalists, that really is a rarity in this industry, but not Blake, every time I saw him he was like that.
When I woke up this morning and began to process all the news from last night, I started to get sad and ask myself why. Why is it that some of the most talented, skill, loving, and amazing people, get taken away from us too early. I drag racing it’s not unusual for someone to pass away, it’s the nature of our sport. I don’t liken Blake’s passing to that of someone we lose on track though. I liken it more to a Chris Farley, Jimi Hendrix, Tupac, Len Bias, Biggie, Kurt Cobain, and so many other talented individuals that never reached the pinnacle of their career, life, or abilities. They leave us wondering that what-ifs and dreaming of what could have been. I have no doubt that Blake would have become one of the most successful door car drag racers in history if that’s what he wanted to do.
There are two quotes from Henry David Thoreau that I want to share with all of you reading this:
On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have hence forth to fulfill the promise of our friend's life also, in our own, to the world.
We live but a fraction of our life.
In the short time that I knew Blake, entirely too short for my liking, I will never forget the smile on that kid’s face, the appreciation that he had for others, and the humbleness in which he carried himself around me. I send my prayers to the Copson family, all Blake’s friends, and the entire racing community, as we have lost a star that didn’t even get to start to shine as bright as it could.
To Blake: Thank you for showing all of us how to smile and enjoy life. Thank you for being an amazing young man. You provided all of us with a lifetime of memories in such a short amount of time. Rest in Peace and be with the Lord my friend.