Bob Tasca III reached new heights during the NHRA Betway Carolina Nationals Sunday, further elevating his standing in the Countdown to the Championship. Tasca not only scored his third victory of the season, but also rocketed to a major milestone in the process at zMax Dragway.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a huge win for our team \u2013 to keep our championship hopes alive,\u201d Tasca said. \u201cThese are big races with big implications. I mean, if you lose in the semifinals, you go behind the points leader by a race. If you win the race, you\u2019re within a round of first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI give all the credit, this win, to my team. They performed flawlessly. In the final round we had a big issue assembling the engine \u2013 a head bolt that broke \u2013 and in 25 minutes, they had to swap the engine. They did an incredible job. To be able to deliver this win to the team, sponsors and put ourselves in the position to really be in contention for the championship \u2013 that\u2019s what we do it for. Just excited about how the car ran, and I\u2019m looking forward to going to St. Louis and doing it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tasca was quick on the accelerator, posting a blistering 3.836-second qualifying pass at 331.94 mph. The time registered by Tasca\u2019s Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Ford Mustang was a personal best from the 3.851 seconds that he set previously. It also is the quickest recorded pass for Mustang to 1,000 feet, which was 3.844 seconds by Tim Wilkerson in 2017. The sensational run slotted him into the No. 3 spot, but he soon emerged as a favorite for the final round by his consistently quick runs during the eliminations.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get to make history often,\u201d Tasca said. \u201cBut when you look at the legacy of Mustang, which is something I cherish very much, to leave it a little brighter than you found it has always been my goal. To run the quickest run in the history of Mustang, and also beating my career best, it doesn\u2019t get much more special to that. To say that I\u2019m the \u2018Fastest Ford Man on the Planet,\u2019 well\u2026 I\u2019m the \u2018Fastest Ford Man on the Planet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something that I have a lot of pride in, and to put this thing in the winner\u2019s circle and give ourselves a chance to reality be in this championship fight, it\u2019d be a dream come true to be able to deliver this championship to Ford. This is what this team is focused on doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tasca, who entered the Carolina Nationals 11-3 in the first round as a No. 3 seed, faced off against the No. 14 seeded Alexis DeJoria. He was the first off the line and pulled away to victory, posting a 3.871-second run at 328.70 mph. While Tasca was 6-6 in the second round this season, he notably had not been beaten by his next opponent, the No. 11 seeded Terry Haddock. Tasca, again, advanced by another solid pass of 3.894 seconds at 329.02 mph.<\/p>\n
The semifinal match-up proved to be a challenge for Tasca with track temperatures continuing to increase throughout the day \u2013 up 26 degrees from his initial elimination run. The second seed, Matt Hagan, earned an early-advantage to the 660-foot mark before Tasca\u2019s Mustang began closing the gap. Tasca bested Hagan by a narrow .0062 margin of victory after posting a 3.935-second run at 327.35 mph.<\/p>\n
Tasca reached his 29th class final round of his career, and this time specifically, showcased the swift adaptability of the Motorcraft\/ Quick Lane crew as it was able to swap engines with less than 30 minutes to the final round. The grit and determination of the team motivated Tasca for one final challenge: 2022 Points Champion Robert Hight. Tasca got the immediate jump on the top-seeded Hight, and with that, created enough of a gap to cross the line first by four-hundredths of a second. Tasca started the playoffs fourth in points and now sits in second. The win is Tasca\u2019s 17th of his career, 14th in class.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of the entire Motorcraft team, we want to congratulate Bob on his impressive victory during this weekend\u2019s Carolina Nationals, \u201c said Fletch Carter, Ford Customer Service Division, U.S. Sales Manager. \u201cFord and Motorcraft are so proud of Bob \u2013 the dedication and determination he has to excel as a top-level driver, ambassador and teacher. We wish him and the entire Motorcraft\/Quick Lane team continued success in their pursuit of the championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tasca has amplified his impact \u2013 beyond his role as the Vice President of Tasca Automotive Group, team owner and driver in motorsport \u2013 by extending his support off the racetrack to the automotive industry\u2019s future. Tasca works alongside Ford to attract and retain automotive technicians. During the school year, he speaks to thousands of students who take part in the NHRA\u2019s YES (Youth and Education Services) programs. He also participates in race-day hospitality programs for current Ford technicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be comfortable when I have the championship trophy in my hand at Pomona,\u201d Tasca said. \u201cUntil then, this team is going to race like it\u2019s the last race we ever enter. We\u2019re going to leave it all on the line to give our team the best chance to win the championship. We\u2019re going against the best in the world \u2013 best driver, crew chiefs and crews that this sport has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou beat Hagan, you beat Robert\u2026 Those are the guys gunning for the championship. If you slip up, it\u2019s going to make it really hard. But, we\u2019re in a good spot. We\u2019re chasing Robert \u2013 we know that. In order for us to get around him, we need to keep winning rounds. We\u2019re going to do the best we can in St. Louis and continue on this road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next on the schedule is the NHRA Midwest Nationals, set for September 29 \u2013 October 1 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.<\/p>\n
The post Bob Tasca III Reigns Over Carolina Nationals Funny Car Field<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bob Tasca III reached new heights during the NHRA Betway Carolina Nationals Sunday, further elevating his standing in the Countdown to the Championship. Tasca not only scored his third victory of the season, but also rocketed to a major milestone in the process at zMax Dragway. \u201cIt was a huge win for our team \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89765\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}