Marstons Mills, MA-September 17, 2015-Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream team heads to the finest drag strip in the world, Bruton Smith’s zMax Dragway in Charlotte, N.C., with big plans for this weekend’s Carolina Nationals.

“I think everybody is looking forward to seeing what the cars can do at a track like this,” said driver Todd Veney, who made his best run ever, 5.52, at zMax. “If the weather allows, track records could fall not just in Top Alcohol Funny Car but in a lot of other classes, too.”

Sixth in the national standings heading into the race, the Permatex/Follow A Dream team faces one of the toughest lineups of the entire season, with drivers expected from the West Coast, Australia, and Europe. “Charlotte is tough every year – especially the fall race,” said Blake, who detoured from the team’s last stop, in Indianapolis, all the way to Nebraska for a speaking engagement before heading back across the country to Charlotte for another engagement at the NASCAR Technical Institute in suburban Mooresville.

“It’s nothing but national events for us for the rest of the year,” Blake said. “Winning regional events is great and really hard to do, but we got more publicity for winning the Norwalk national than we did for the Richmond and Lebanon Valley regional wins combined.”

Toward that end, Blake has added another national event to the team’s schedule. Oct. 16-18, for the first time ever, the Permatex/Follow A Dream team will run the Fall Nationals at the sport’s first “super track,” the Texas Motorplex in Dallas, before winding up the season at the prestigious NHRA finals in Pomona, Calif.