DREAM TEAM WINS LUCAS OIL SERIES DIVISION
ONE EVENT AT LEBANON VALLEY

Marstons Mills, MA- July 8, 2010-With a semifinal win over undefeated Frank Manzo and a final-round decision over veteran Eric Lourie, Jay Blake's Follow A Dream team picked up its first event title of the season and climbed to sixth place in the national standings. At the Division 1 Lucas Oil Series event at legendary Lebanon Valley Dragway in upstate New York, driver Todd Veney set low e.t. of all three rounds of eliminations, with a 5.66 against Tom Carter, a 5.75 against Manzo, and a 5.77 in a close final-round win over Lourie.

This is the best day of my racing life," Todd said after the final. "I've won before, but never like this. Because of the teamwork that went into it, especially before the semifinals, and because we were the first to beat Manzo all year and came out on top in such a close final, this is the best day I've ever had in drag racing."

Jay led the crew through a major thrash before the semifinals after a lifter was damaged in the first-round win over Carter. He and tuner Tom Howell were on the verge of installing another engine - so close that a new engine was rolled out from beneath the bench and the motor mounts were removed from the one in the car - but, ultimately, the lifter bore proved to be repairable and the team got the job completed in time.

The car rolled into the staging lanes with just minutes to spare and performed flawlessly, running a 5.75 on the hot, tricky surface to cover Manzo's up-in-smoke effort. Until that round, the 13-time NHRA world champion had won every race he entered this season and 33 rounds in a row overall, dating back to the semifinals of last year's U.S. Nationals.

In the final, Lourie, a past national event champ competing at his home track, ran a 5.83 but Todd got the win with a 5.77. "We knew Eric was a solid, consistent performer and that it would be a really close race," Tom said. "The track condition worsened for the final, and we left it up to Todd to get the car down the track, and he did."

"It was an awesome weekend all around," Jay said. "Everybody on the team came together to get the car turned around in time to race Manzo - just another example of the teamwork that Follow A Dream is all about. Lebanon Valley is the closest to home that we race all year, and a lot of us had family with us at the track, which just the whole weekend that much more special for everybody."

After five races in a seven-week span, the team has several weeks off before the next event, a Division 1 Lucas Oil Series event at Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, Md. Aug. 20-21.

FOLLOW A DREAM RETURNS TO RACING ACTION

For the first time in the eight-year history of Jay Blake's Permatex/Follow A Dream team, the team will run back-to-back-to-back events: the Spring Nationals in Houston (April 9-11), the SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas (April 16-18), and the Lucas Oil Series divisional race in Indianapolis (April 23-25).

"This is a great opportunity for us," Jay said. "It takes a huge commitment from every person on the team, but everybody's up for it. I love Houston – that's where we won our first race. Vegas is one of the biggest races of the year and one we've always wanted to run, and the Indy race is right on our way back to Boston from Vegas. The whole team will be in Houston, but not everyone can be away from home for three straight weeks, so the rest of us will have to work that much harder in Vegas and Indy. To take on a great challenge like this, it'll be worth it."

"I'm really looking forward to all three races – especially Vegas," said driver Todd Veney. "Indy's my hometown and Indianapolis Raceway Park is my favorite track. I've haven't raced in Houston since my rookie year, 2000, and it will be great to run the Vegas race and take on all the big names from the West Coast."

This will be the first time Follow A Dream has competed at the Las Vegas and Indianapolis events, but the team has a great history in Houston, where they won in 2005, taking out Bob Newberry, who eventually won the championship that year, in the final. Last year, the team reached the final there.

Tuner Tom Howell is back with Blake, the only totally blind crew chief in all of motorsports, as is the entire Follow A Dream crew from 2009: Charlie and Joe Mitchell, Ed Parker, Scott Osborn, Mike Lupo, Rich Fenwick, and Scott Spencer." The whole team is thrilled to have Todd return to the seat and we're already gearing up for the 2010 season," said Blake, who, between racing events, encourages countless thousands of others across the country through motivational presentations delivered at technical schools, colleges, and corporate events, to follow their dreams.

WELCOME TO FOLLOW A DREAM

About Follow A Dream
Established in 1999, Follow A Dream is a non-profit 501(C)3 organization. The organization’s message is uniquely delivered through NHRA drag racing as its medium. As racing’s only totally blind, race crew chief, Follow A Dream Founder, Jay Blake draws upon his personal experience of overcoming adversity and achieving his dream of auto racing, and shares his inspiration with others.

About Wynn’s
Wynn’s traces its history to 1939 when the original Wynn’s Friction Proofing Oil Treatment® formula was first developed and introduced to the automotive market. In the 65 years following the introduction of that single product, Wynn’s has grown to become a leading worldwide manufacturer and marketer of innovative, groundbreaking automotive specialty chemicals and service equipment, as well as Complete Automotive Maintenance Programs. For more information, log on to www.wynnsusa.com.

About Permatex
Permatex, Inc. is a leading manufacturer, distributor, and marketer of premium chemical products to the automotive maintenance and repair markets. Since 1909, Permatex has been an acknowledged leader in the development of innovative new products and services for the automotive aftermarket. For more information, visit http://www.permatex.com/

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