Marstons Mills, MA -April 24, 2012-At the Eastern Regional opener at
Virginia Motorsports Park in Richmond, Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream
team picked up its first Top Alcohol Funny Car title of the season and moved
into sixth place in the NHRA national standings. Driver Todd Veney qualified
No. 1 and set low e.t. and top speed en route to victory with a 5.600 at
258.07 mph.
“Running back-to-back-to-back races made it impossible for a couple of guys
on the team to make it to this one, but everybody else stepped up and we got
the job done,” Blake said. “Everyone did his job perfectly, and it was a
great team effort. This is the first time NHRA has been in Virginia in a few
years, and it was awesome to get the win in our first trip back.”
Veney defeated Melinda Green-King in the first round, 5.65 to 5.80, veteran
Eric Lourie in the semifinals, 5.71 to 5.74, and second-generation driver
D.J. Cox in the final, 5.66 to 5.69. “This is my best win ever,” he said.
“It’s the first time I’ve qualified No. 1, and the guys were able to parlay
it into a win. We really needed that kind of performance, too – the
semifinals against Lourie and the final against Cox were great races decided
by just a couple hundredths of a second.”
The event was the second of three events on consecutive weekends for the
Permatex/Follow A Dream crew, including the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte,
where the team made its two quickest (5.52 and 5.53) and two fastest (262.64
and 261.98 mph) runs ever. The tour winds up this weekend 1,200 miles from
Richmond at the NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, where the team will have
two qualifying attempts Friday and a final qualifying session Saturday
morning. The first of four rounds of eliminations is scheduled for Saturday
afternoon.