Follow A Dream– New England Dragway Wrapup

Marstons Mills, MA -July 24, 2013-Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream team reached the semifinals at the East Regional at the team’s home track, New England Dragway in Epping, N.H. The final-four finish keeps driver Todd Veney in contention for another regional championship and bolstered the team’s lead in the East Region Allstar standings.
Veney ran back-to-back 5.73s Friday in near hundred-degree heat to qualify in the fast half of the field and another 5.73 in the first round of eliminations Saturday night to take out veteran John Headley. In the semifinals against reigning world champ Frank Manzo, who was undefeated at this track, the car smoked the tires off the line for a 5.91 that fell short of Manzo’s 5.62, which was low e.t. to that point.
“Not a bad weekend,” Veney said. “We’re there to win, but any time you make it to the semifinals, you’re doing pretty well. We ran three 5.73s in a row in some pretty tough conditions. It just wasn’t enough to get around Manzo.”
“It was great to have top students and faculty from Porter and Chester Institute at the track with us – people like them are a perfect fit for our program,” Blake said. “We also had the honor of having Chris Vangelder and his family as our guests for the weekend. Chris was blinded in a motorcycle accident a year ago, and it was extra special to be able to show him and his family what’s possible for people who don’t have their sight.”
Next up for the Follow A Dream team is an East Regional next month at Cecil County Dragway in the Baltimore area, where last year the team won to take over first place in the region.