Funny Car\u2019s Bob Tasca III made the fastest run in zMAX Dragway history on Saturday, racing to the victory in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge specialty race as part of this weekend\u2019s 14th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte.<\/p>\n
Justin Ashley (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the specialty race at the fifth of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.<\/p>\n
In the Challenge final, Tasca went 3.834-seconds at 338.34 mph \u2013 the 10th-fastest run in Funny Car history \u2013 in his 11,000-horsepower Ford Performance Mustang to hold off points leader Austin Prock, J.R. Todd and Paul Lee. Tasca\u2019s qualifying run from Friday was disqualified after his car\u2019s intake manifold was found to have been media blasted. The violation is considered a technical infraction, as the intake manifold is not allowed to be altered in any form from its original, accepted state.<\/p>\n
Tasca\u2019s team recovered from that and turned in two strong runs on Saturday, including the track-record pass in the final round of the Challenge. He\u2019ll now have a chance for a double-up weekend and to sweep the pair of 4-Wide Nationals events.<\/p>\n
\u201cHats off to (crew chiefs) Aaron Brooks and Todd Okuhara. It was an incredible, incredible call in that final,\u201d Tasca said. \u201cThis thing was fast, baby. It was dancing around and I was driving my butt off. It hauled the mail and it was exactly what we were looking for. I\u2019m so proud of my team and we\u2019ve got a car that can win tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 338 mph goes to show you that the hard work that (Brooks and Okuhara) put in and the attention to detail pays off. These guys were focused on getting this race car right for the final round and winning this race. It\u2019s Saturday but I feel like I\u2019m in the winner\u2019s circle on Sunday. This is an awesome thing (Mission does). We take it very seriously. We want to win this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Top Fuel, Justin Ashley continued to roll on Saturdays in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, going 3.701 at 334.32 in his 11,000-horsepower Scag Power Equipment\/Toyota dragster to outlast Antron Brown, Josh Hart and Steve Torrence. It\u2019s the first specialty event win this season for Ashley, but the seventh overall Challenge win dating back to last season. He posted another great reaction time in the final quad and pulled away at the finish line, giving the young standout and points leader another opportunity for a double-up weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter whether it\u2019s qualifying whether it\u2019s the Mission Challenge, or whether it\u2019s race day, we want to win each and every lap that we make down the racetrack,\u201d Ashley said. \u201cThat\u2019s just a testament to the team that we have. They\u2019ve been doing a great job, working hard really since the offseason to put us in position to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it\u2019s a race, an event. or the Challenge, it\u2019s all equally as tough to win because the Top Fuel field is just that. I definitely try to push the tree as hard as I can each and every time. I think for me, it\u2019s muscle memory: practice like you play, so it\u2019s important to do the same thing. each and every time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Points leader Erica Enders got a second chance to compete for the specialty event win in Pro Stock and the six-time world champ made the most of it, going 6.516 at 210.73 in her Johnson\u2019s Horsepowered Garage\/Melling Performance\/Scag Power Equipment car to win her second Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge of the year and third in her career.<\/p>\n
Enders slipped past Dallas Glenn, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Jerry Tucker to claim the victory, getting a new life in the specialty race after Greg Anderson was disqualified in the opening-round quad due to a technical violation after bypassing a safety device. Enders replaced him in the final quad and now has the chance to double-up in Charlotte.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever give us a second chance. We\u2019ll figure it out, eventually. I think we proved that last year,\u201d Enders said. \u201cThe four-wide can definitely be confusing, but thankfully we figured it out and parked it in the winner\u2019s circle. I can\u2019t thank Mission Foods enough for supporting our sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been behind the eight-ball a bit this weekend. We shook the tires in the final in Las Vegas and we shook again last night but our crew chiefs did a good job of figuring it out. This is a nice way to go to sleep on a Saturday night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaige Herrera\u2019s track-record run in Pro Stock Motorcycle on his RevZilla\/Mission Foods\/Vance & Hines Suzuki handed the defending world champ another Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge victory, going 6.671 at 202.70 to hold off teammate Richard Gadson, and Matt and Angie Smith. It\u2019s Herrera\u2019s fifth victory in the specialty race, which has only been held seven times in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Herrera made his best run of qualifying when it counted and picked up the victory in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we came here, I didn\u2019t even realize there was a Mission race on Saturday but I\u2019m very happy with it,\u201d Herrera said. \u201cIt was great to be in the final quad with two Matt Smith bikes and two Vance & Hines bikes. I feel like it\u2019s going to be like that all year long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eliminations for the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals begin at 12 p.m. ET on Sunday at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on April 27, 2024. <\/p>\n
The post Tasca, Ashley, Enders and Herrera Win Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in Charlotte<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Funny Car\u2019s Bob Tasca III made the fastest run in zMAX Dragway history on Saturday, racing to the victory in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge specialty race as part of this weekend\u2019s 14th annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte. Justin Ashley (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92559","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=92559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}