Champions Podcast Episode 14 - Blake Koch, former Nascar Driver

 In this episode Blake talks about:

• how he believed in God as a Kid, but wasn’t discipled and didn’t attend church regularly
• When Blake was 16 his dad had a great testimony and he started sharing it with Blake and that was huge for him. “Who knows where I’d be now if it wasn’t for my dad.”
• Dad was a big Hollywood producer. He had everything you could want. Big houses, cars, money. But he was just lost and wasn’t happy. Then he changed. God got a hold of his heart and removed everything from his life. He went broke, lost his house, lost his cars, and surrendered and went on to a life of following Jesus. God needed to strip everything away from him to get his attention.
• Parents were divorced when he was 2. Lived mainly with mom. She was a single mother working 9-5 and barely getting by. 
• On weekends when he’d be at dad’s he would get anything he wanted, but at mom’s, she was happy to provide food.
• Even though his dad lost everything he knew God would provide and that has really worn off on Blake.
• From 20 years old on, any decision Blake had to make, he would call his dad and they would pray. Every race they would pray, before every practice, they would pray. Now as an entrepreneur, they pray prior to every meeting.
• COME TO JESUS AHA MOMENT - Going to college, starting to party a bit, starting to drink too much here and there, and was kind of distant from God. He admits he was trying to control his life. He was living with his girlfriend at the time. He woke up on a Sunday and was feeling a little rough and his girlfriend said they should go to church. He was working and making good money and was at church and the pastor talked about trying to live life on your own and how that's not something you want to do. When it came time to give he reached in his wallet and grabbed all the cash he had and put it in the offering. Still to this day doesn’t know how much he gave but knows he was working money and wanted to surrender it to God. From that moment on he bought his own Bible, got into a small group, went to church regularly, and now is on fire from the Lord.
• He attended a Drivers Bible study on race day when he came into NASCAR, and was able to get plugged into a good group of guys who were on the same mission and loved the Lord.
• Grew up racing dirt bikes. Racing cars at 20. Drove a race car for the first time for fun and then decided he wanted to be a NASCAR driver cause it was fun. 
• Growing up, NASCAR driver was not a dream growing up. had never watched NASCAR till 2007, drove the car in 2008.
• Got engaged at 24, moved to NC to pursue racing in 1 bedroom apt from Florida. Was hired to drive in the Xfinity series in 2011. Did that whole year and things were looking good. 2012 signed with a new team and had a big sponsor and after 1st race sponsor pulled out. 
• Got a job driving his friend Trevor Barnes motor home to NASCAR races. They were buddies, and he stayed with him, they were in the same bible study. Blake started spotting during the race.
• One of his other buddies Josh wise couldn’t make it to a race and suggested they have Blake ride. He did it, did well, and then gets more opportunities and he hired again
• 2016 he had a big sponsor come on board, started a racing team, started driving and made playoffs, and finished 6th in the championship.
• Talks about the emotional toll of being on a team, then let go, then on a team, then let go.
• He shares experiences speaking at Promise Keepers.
• Talks about walking with his team owner through putting his faith in the Lord
• Shares about starting Filter Time and how he partnered with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• https://www.filtertime.com/
• Talks about his car catching on fire in a race at Talladega
• Talks about his Dad’s book the firsthour.com