Tasca, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Goes Testing

LAS VEGAS, Apr. 4, 2011: You can’t deny “nine times out of ten” are good odds – especially in a town like Las Vegas. But what happens when that one time comes up at just the wrong moment? If you’re Bob Tasca III and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang team, it means a little more on the mind and a lot more to test.

After sitting as high as second in the standings, Tasca qualified eighth at the track where he first hit the throttle on an NHRA Full Throttle Series Funny Car with a 4.202-second finish at 294.63 mph. The Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang proved true to its reputation through the weekend, running well despite temperatures in the 90s.

It wasn’t until the first round that the ‘one time’ showed up. The car struck the tires right off the starting line before coasting to a 10.035 at 72.11 mph to give Tony Pedregon the win.

“I’m not a gambling man, but I would have put a lot of money down that our car would not have smoked the tires in that first round,” Tasca said. “We went out to run what we ran on Friday and Saturday. We weren’t trying to do anything stupid, and it smoked the tires. I think that just puts into perspective a few things. We live on the edge. When you sit in one of these cars and the crew chief pulls the wire to start it up, you know that you are on the edge.

“You don’t run the speeds we run and the E.T.’s we run being conservative. Unfortunately, we got bit. I think if we re-ran that round and didn’t change anything, nine out of ten times we’d go down the track just fine.”

Tasca and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang team stays at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Monday to test.

“I think in four seasons, I’ve been around long enough to know you can go from hero to zero and zero to hero quicker than you can in any other sport,” Tasca said. “I can assure you this Motorcraft/Quick Lane team has a lot of confidence that we have the best technology on the planet behind us with Ford Racing and Ford technology. We made some terrific runs here this weekend.

“The good news is we’re in the meat of the season now. We’ll be racing every other week. We’re testing here on Monday. No more two weeks off. Points swings happen in big, big chunks over the next couple of races. So we’re looking for some momentum. Me, as a driver, have never been more confident in the car. I’ve never had more confidence in my team. Marc Denner and Chris Cunningham, they’re as good as any crew chiefs out there. We just unfortunately haven’t got a break. We’ll learn a lot here Monday, then we’ll go into the (VisitMyrtleBeach.com 4-Wide Nationals) in Charlotte and hopefully leave with a win.”