NHRA Funny Car - Tasca Ready To Win At Bristol

Bristol, June 16, 2011: When considering the impressive line-up of Funny Cars and drivers that have competed in the Ford stable through the years, it’s hard to believe that only one Ford driver has made it to the Funny Car winner’s circle in Bristol – and that would be the man himself, John Force.

Force has won the event three times, including last year, and he hopes to earn a fourth Wally in Thunder Valley this week. But there are four Ford drivers that hope there’ll be a new Mustang in the Winner’s Circle this year.

One of them is Bob Tasca III.

By all accounts, Tasca and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang Funny Car team have had a stellar start to the season, especially given unexpected challenges that no race team can predict. They’ve bettered Tasca’s career mph three times – it now stands at 311.05 (Charlotte 1). Tasca ran the quickest pass of his life, at 4.074 seconds, in Atlanta, but they haven’t won.

What could be better but to join fellow ‘One Ford’ driver John Force on the winner’s list at Bristol?

“The team is very confident,” Tasca said. “We haven’t gotten a win yet this season. That’s been a little frustrating. We’ve had flashes of brilliance. It’s a very consistent car – the fastest car we’ve ever had on the race track. The way it’s been running consistently, obviously we go to these races with high expectations. We’ve run very well on Friday and Saturday and come up short on Sunday.”

Tasca earned a semifinal finish at the track last year, where he lost to none other than Force.

“Our fans and sponsors have high expectations,” Tasca said. “We want to deliver on those expectations. Bristol is an awesome place to race. The fans in Bristol are just passionate about their motorsports, to say the least. We got the flavor of that when we started up the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang Funny Car during pre-race ceremonies at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Bristol this year. Wherever we went at the track, there was a great outpouring of support for the NHRA and our program. We’re certainly due to get this Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang a win and it would be great to get that in Bristol.”