NHRA Funny Car - Time Is Now For Tasca, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Team

PHOENIX, Oct. 14, 2011: Now’s the time to make your move. That’s what’s on the mind of the 10 drivers competing for the NHRA Full Throttle Series Funny Car championship title. Only three races remain in the Countdown playoffs and there’s no time to wait.

Bob Tasca III and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Funny Car team have had a fair playoff season so far. They runnered-up at the first race of the Countdown, in Indianapolis. They reached the semifinals last week in Reading, Pa. But fair won’t win the title, a fact Tasca keeps top of mind.

“This is not a ‘maybe,’ an ‘if’ or a possibility,” Tasca said. “To stay alive, we have to win the race (in Phoenix).”

Tasca maintained his seventh-place position after last week’s race because of that semifinal finish and a few key losses for teams high in the points. He doesn’t expect to get that assist again.

“We got lucky in Reading, with a few of the top cars losing in the early rounds,” Tasca said. “You can’t count on that every weekend and with only three races left we have to put a W on the board.

“We’ve got a car that’s going rounds now, which is what we need. But we need a win. You got to close the deal on one of these races, and pick up the maximum amount of points.”

Typically, the hottest part of the season falls in the summer months of the Full Throttle Series schedule, which stretches from February to November. Not so this year. Conditions this weekend in Arizona are expected to be the hottest yet. Crew chief Chris Cunningham and Co-Crew Chief Marc Denner will use information gained through the summer to prep the Ford Mustang for this weekend.

“We should see conditions that we have good data on,” Tasca said.

There are two more reasons to celebrate at the track – both Bob Tasca III and his father Bob Tasca Jr. will celebrate birthdays.

“Dad’s 60th birthday is this weekend (on Sunday),” said Bob III, whose birthday is on Friday. “It would be nice to pick up a win this weekend.”