Marston Mills, MA - Jay Blake's Permatex/Follow A Dream team reached the quarterfinals in its 2012 debut, dropping a close match with John Lombardo Jr., 5.64, 254 to 5.69, 237.
At the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., driver Todd Veney qualified in the fast half of the field with a 5.60 at 257 mph and defeated Cassie Simonton in the first round with an identical 5.60 at 257 mph. "The team was right back up to speed immediately," Blake said. "We didn't test in the preseason, and the car was in the 5.60s right off the bat, which comes from having the same crew in place from last year. Everybody did their jobs perfectly, but two $10 parts failed and cost us the race."
The rear two blower studs snapped 3.2 seconds into Veney's second-round matchup with Lombardo, slowing the car by 20 mph and turning what would have been a 5.55 win into a 5.69 loss. "When that happens, it cuts the boost in half," Veney said. "I can't believe it went as fast as it did - the studs broke before half-track, and it felt like it was barely moving. I never saw him until the very end. I actually thought we had him, but he passed me as we were coming up on the first mile-per-hour light. The good thing is that the car ran strong. We tested after the race, and it ran even better."
On Monday afternoon, after the last two rounds of the rain-delayed event were complete, the team tested ideas that tuner Tom Howell developed over the winter and made runs of 5.61 and 5.58.
The next race on the Permatex/Follow A Dream schedule is the 4-Wide Nationals April 13-15 at zMax Dragway in Charlotte, N.C. Gatornationals coverage will be televised on ESPN2 this Saturday, March 24, at noon Eastern.
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