Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream team wrapped up the 2014 season at the prestigious NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif., with its fastest run of all time. In last-shot qualifying, driver Todd Veney, who had been bumped from the near-record field two minutes earlier, ran a 5.53 at 262.85 mph to climb all the way to the No. 2 spot in the Top Alcohol Funny Car field and eventually finished third.

In a wild, backpedaling, on-and-off-the-throttle first round race against Greg Hunter, Veney won with a 7.38. “I don’t think I’ve ever won a round like that before,” he said. “I could see Greg’s car ahead of me early in the run and thought it was all over, but he just missed coming in my lane and our car hooked up and shot right by him for the win.” Veney was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Mike Doushgounian, who bought 17-time world champion Frank Manzo’s car complete when Manzo retired after winning this race last year.

“Not a bad way to finish the season,” said Blake, who spoke at the Veteran’s Hospital in Long Beach, Calif., and at the Universal Technical Institute in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., earlier in the week. “We qualified No. 3 in the second-quickest field of all time, went a couple rounds in eliminations, and made our fastest run ever.”