Arnie Karp

For a full decade he was an active living Funny Car legend. Arnie Karp was arguably as famous as any Alcohol Funny Car driver could be throughout the 1980s, as he campaigned his "Boston Strangler" Alcohol Funny Car up and down the east coast, often pitting himself against the undisputed King of the east coast alcohol ranks, Frank Manzo, at track after track. This weekend, at the K&N Filters Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J., Karp will make his return to the Alcohol Funny Car ranks, joining forces with kindred soul Jay Blake, who owns and tunes the "Follow A Dream" Alcohol Funny Car.

Rarely has so much synergy been present between a car owner and his driver, as Blake and Karp have both overcome extremely difficult and life threatening problems to rise above their own misfortune, and both have persevered to move on to all new challenges. Joining forces this weekend, Blake and Karp hope to establish a long-running association on the track, while they also utilize their positions to spread their messages to others facing similar obstacles.

Blake, a former head mechanic for a transportation company, saw his life forever altered on May 22, 1997 when the wheel and tire assembly on a forklift exploded, hurtling him 40-feet through the air and critically injuring him. Clinging to life, Blake committed himself to recovery, despite the 100% loss of sight he suffered in the accident. A little more than a year later, after months of rehab, he attended the NHRA national event in Reading, Pennsylvania and committed himself to the next stage of his life.

Forming a not-for-profit organization called "Follow A Dream", Blake thrust himself back into the sport he had always loved, drag racing, without allowing a pair of prosthetic eyes to darken his heartfelt vision. After running in the Super Comp class for a couple of years, Blake stepped up the effort to the pinnacle of sportsman racing, the Alcohol Funny Car class, prior to the 2003 season. He purchased Frank Manzo's 2002 car, and put popular driver/writer Todd Veney in the seat.

Now, in mid-season 2004, Arnie Karp has resurrected his legendary Alcohol FC career to make a most meaningful comeback, at a track where he often made history, driving a car originally built for his long-time nemesis. Both the driver and the owner know all about following a dream.

As was well documented last season when Karp made a daring comeback to the sport when he licensed and competed in a professional Nitro Funny Car, the Boston native was at the peak of his career when his life was threatened and his racing taken away by kidney disease. Finally saved by the unselfish donation of a kidney by a crew member, Karp survived the disease but didn't feel fully "cured" without a direct involvement in the sport he loved.

After returning to NHRA competition briefly as a pro in 2003, Karp retired late in the year after deciding the Nitro Funny Car ranks were too much of a stretch for an Alcohol Funny Car driver who had just taken a decade off. Now, after making passes in the "Follow A Dream" car this past weekend at New England Dragway, Karp is ready and thrilled to be jumping back into the Alcohol ranks.

"We made a couple of lap and got NHRA approval for me to drive, I got comfortable in the car, and it was like putting on an old glove," he said. "I spent most of my career driving Alcohol Funny Cars, and after the thrill of driving that Nitro car last year, I'll admit I felt a lot more at home in this car. It was a lot more like riding a bike, and I'm so excited to be returning to Englishtown, to be racing in this NHRA Lucas Oil Series class, and to maybe have a chance to line up next to Manzo again.

"Jay Blake is an extraordinary guy," Karp continued. "He has given motivational speeches at well more than a thousand schools, and at businesses around the country. He's totally blind, but believe me he has a 'vision' for this sport and for what we can do to help other people. He actually even donated a kidney to his father, earlier in life, so we have a true connection there. We plan to have a lot of fun racing, but neither one of us would be doing this if there wasn't a better reason to be out there."

Blake offered the position to Karp just minutes into a conversation they had a few weeks ago, and things have been in high gear since.

"Arnie and I go way back, and we've had so many parallels in our lives," Blake said. "We were sitting outside a restaurant waiting for it to open, and I think we were both kind of dancing around what we wanted to talk about. Finally, I asked him if he wanted to be a part of Follow A Dream and if he wanted to drive the car. His voice got animated as he said yes, and I told him we were wasting time sitting in that parking lot. We had a lot to do and we needed to get to work.

"Arnie is a humble guy, who often deflects praise aimed at him, sending it instead to those around him," Blake continued. "But let me tell you, he's an inspiration to me and to thousands of other people. Maybe the two of us are just meant to work together. My 'Follow A Dream' foundation needs corporate support, and the racecar is a great way to round up that support. Hopefully, some people will see what we're doing and take an interest in helping us, as we help other people. We'd both love to make this a long-term deal, and with some help we can do that."

Arnie Karp, the "Strangler," is back where he made his mark, driving an Alcohol Funny Car. Perhaps this was just meant to be.