Marstons Mills, MA -August 23, 2013-At the final Eastern Regional of the season, Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream team reached the semifinals at Cecil County Dragway to move from fourth place to second in the final Top Alcohol Funny Car standings. After dominating qualifying with low e.t. of both sessions, the team fought for traction in eliminations and lost to eventual winner John Anderika in the semifinals.
Driver Todd Veney was number 1 after the first session with a 5.66 and established overall low e.t. and top speed of the meet in the final session with a 5.62 at 256.41 mph. After smoking the tires on a first-round bye earned by qualifying on top in a field with an odd number of cars, Veney lost traction again in a winner-take-all semifinal match with Anderika.
“That was a tough because D.J. Cox couldn’t return so we would have had a bye in the final,” said Veney, who won this race last year to clinch the team’s first regional championship. “It would have been nice to come from way behind two years in a row, but we couldn’t make it down that right lane. Nobody could.”
“John’s team earned it all year and we take our hats off to them,” Blake said. “It looked like things were going our way after qualifying, but it wasn’t our year. Now, there’s nothing but national events for the rest of the season, so that’s three more chances to win a big one.”