NHRA Funny Car - Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang Loses Round One By A Nose

Englishtown, June 5, 2011: Four-thousandths of a second blocked Bob Tasca III from getting out of the first round of eliminations at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Tasca, the defending event winner, hoped luck would swing his way for his hometown crowd – but while his team’s pit area was crowded with guests, luck was not among them.

After beating opponent Jack Beckman off the starting line .072 seconds to .095, Tasca drove the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang Funny Car to a 4.139-second finish at 305.56 mph. It wasn’t enough, as Beckman clocked a 4.112 at 308.57 to advance. Beckman lost to No. 1 qualifier Cruz Pedregon in Round 2.

“We’ve got everything but luck,” Tasca said. “We just can’t win a close race. It’s not a lack of effort. (Crew Chief and Co-Crew Chief) Chris (Cunningham) and Marc (Denner) made a good call. The close races just haven’t gone our way. We’ve got a consistent car, a great team and the best parts in the world. We just haven’t gotten the close races to go in our favor.

“We clocked five solid runs and on average, we were probably one of the quickest cars on the property. We just lost to a good team in a close race.”

Tasca, who was born and raised in Rhode Island and attended his first race at Englishtown, now heads to Bristol, Tenn. for the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Presented by Tri-Cities area Ford Dealers, June 17-19, 2011.

“We wanted to put on a better show for my hometown crowd, but I guess that’s drag racing,” Tasca said.