Marstons Mills, MA –August 21, 2012-At Cecil County Dragway at the final Lucas Oil Series Eastern Regional of the season, Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream team got back on top, winning the race and shooting from fourth to first in the regional points standings. Driver Todd Veney beat Mickey Ferro in a photo-finish final for the Top Alcohol Funny Car title, 5.665 to 5.668.
“This has got to be the best win ever,” Veney said. “I never saw Mickey, and he said he never saw me, so we must have been side by side the whole way down the track.”
Veney qualified fourth with a 5.74 at 251 mph and beat Marie Ferriolo in the first round, 5.67 to 5.69, and incoming points leader John Anderika in the semifinals, 5.67 to 6.04. The win over Anderika drew the Permatex/Follow A Dream team to within a single point of the top spot, and the final-round victory has the team 20 points in the lead.
“It was a total team effort,” Blake said. “I told everybody before we left for Cecil County that if we won that race we were really going to go after this championship, and we are. Now, we’re going to Bowling Green.”
The final event in the Midwest Region is this weekend in Bowling Green, Ky., and it’s expected to attract top talent from around the country. The Bowling Green track is just a few hours from Indianapolis, home of the biggest race in the world, the U.S. Nationals, which is the following weekend.