Marstons Mills, MA -September 23, 2013-Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream team climbed to eighth place in the Top Alcohol Funny Car national standings with a quarterfinal finish at the second-to-last race of the season, the Carolina Nationals at zMax Dragway in Charlotte, N.C.

Driver Todd Veney qualified fifth in the field with a 5.66 and ran a 5.59 – the team’s best performance since May – in a first-round win over Fred Tigges. The car was on an even better run against eventual runner-up Mickey Ferro in the quarterfinals, a 5.57 or 5.58, when the blower belt snapped just past half-track, silencing the engine and bringing the weekend to a halt.

“It happened right as I was going into high gear,” Veney said. “It was on its way to the best run we’ve made in a while – over 206 mph at half-track – when it happened. I’m not sure we would have won, but I must have been right beside him because I never saw him until it quit.”

Over the weekend, the team played host to a large group of foster kids, who got a tour of the car, the rig, and the entire pit and spent time with Blake, who delivered an emotional inspirational speech in the team hospitality area. “Being with kids like that, and with the veterans and their families who also joined us in Charlotte this weekend, is what Follow A Dream is all about,” Blake said.

The team’s next event, the Auto Plus Nationals, is the final race of the season, two weeks from now at historic Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa.