{"id":195418,"date":"2025-10-01T19:25:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T19:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/195418\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T19:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T19:25:10","slug":"blake-lothians-nascar-truck-is-driven-by-passion-the-bay-state-banner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/195418\/","title":{"rendered":"Blake Lothian\u2019s NASCAR truck is driven by passion \u2013 The Bay State Banner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"Blake<\/p>\n

Blake Lothian fell in love wIth racing at the age of 7. PHOTO: BLAKE LOTHIAN<\/p>\n

On July 26, 2002, Blake Daniel Lothian, a race car driver, was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina. There were several other race car drivers born in this world on that day. Still, none were as special to their parents as Blake, the first of two children (daughter Abigail, a student athlete currently attending Virginia Commonwealth University) that the couple would welcome into their (and our) world. <\/p>\n

Today, their son lives and works in a world of speed where margins of victory are measured in fractions of seconds. And while he lives out a dream that began at age five, his father, Dan Lothian, is editor-in-chief and general manager of local news for GBH in Boston; and his mother, Cindy, an elementary schoolteacher who handles the executive duties of promoting her son via social media. The 23-year-old Blake drives in the NASCAR Truck Series with the ultimate goal of someday winning the Daytona 500 \u2014 the Super Bowl of NASCAR Racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to elevate to the top of the NASCAR Circuit, win Daytona, and bring a message to all people, especially people of color, that this could be their dream, too.\u201d During a recent interview with father and son, we gained the following insights: <\/p>\n

\u201cBlake began go-kart racing in fourth grade, building his own cart cars. He grew up racing and winning at every level in which he competed. Today, he is good enough to make it to the NASCAR Truck Series, a steppingstone to his dream of racing at the top level of NASCAR.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOur family supports him in every way. We are part of his team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Eastern Bank is one of Lothian\u2018s race sponsors. PHOTO: BLAKE LOTHIAN<\/p>\n

And while \u201cthe team\u201d keep their emotions, and the ever-present thought of on-track crash incidents buried in their subconscious, the star of the show continues his rise up the NASCAR circuit \u2014 finishing in the top 20 of the event held Sept. 20 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway as well as holding a full-time position in the ARCA Developmental Series, the minor league of NASCAR racing, where he finished in the top 10 (number 9) of the event at Madera Speedway on Sept. 27. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the smiling face in the garage area, always trying to be on the right side of this business. Most people could never conceive of driving and controlling a 500-horsepower vehicle,\u201d said Blake. \u201cThey don\u2019t understand the dynamics of being able to control such power over a distance of miles and the skill level needed to maneuver in the tight quarters of racing against other drivers who are trying just as hard as you to push their vehicles across the finish line first. <\/p>\n

Father Dan: \u201cMy son competes in the safest, dangerous sport. I think he is more concerned about his performance than any thought of danger.\u201d <\/p>\n

Still, the element of danger is always in evidence. Blake cites two incidents: \u201cI spun out in turn two at the Anderson Motor Speedway in 2019, and at Daytona (blowing a tire during a test run, but recovered to save the vehicle) last year.\u201d I asked him the same question I have asked race drivers over decades: Did time \u201cactually slow down\u201d during the accident? The answer was a definite \u201cyes.\u201d <\/p>\n

The second question: Did any accident ever make you question your reason for driving? The expected answer was \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what I do. I feel privileged to do this job. Before every race, I say the prayer: \u2018Armour of God,\u2019 and then go to work and do the job I love to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while this race-driving son of Dan and Cindy Lothian battles against track competitors, as well as a fight for sponsorship dollars, he knows what is expected of him \u2014 to be the best race driver he can be \u2014 every time he gets behind the wheel. One of his major sponsors is Eastern Bank. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are proud to sponsor Blake Lothian in his NASCAR quest,\u201d said Quincy Miller, president of Eastern Bank. \u201cHe is a shining example of what our bank represents \u2014 providing opportunity for people with dreams like Blake \u2014 a young person from the local community of Wellesley, Mass.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blake Lothian fell in love wIth racing at the age of 7. PHOTO: BLAKE LOTHIAN On July 26,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[425,99],"class_list":["post-195418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}