Tasca Takes FordParts.com Shelby Mustang to Victory in Englishtown

Englishtown, June 14, 2010: It was going to take more than a little rain to keep Bob Tasca III and the FordParts.com team from victory.

After rain postponed Sunday’s final round of the NHRA SuperNationals, Tasca captured his third career Funny Car win and first at Englishtown on Monday morning.

“I love my red Mustang but after a weekend like this I don’t know if I want to go back to red; I might keep it blue,” said Tasca. “FordParts.com is a great initiative by Ford Motor Company. If you haven’t seen it, you really have to check it out because it really is best-in-class. This is real exciting. The sponsors invest in us to win -- that’s why we’re out here. My grandfather coined the phrase ‘Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday’ and we win. We’ve won in dominant fashion and now we can be on that list of Fords that have won this year.”

Tasca defeated some of the series’ best drivers en route to this east coast victory. As the all-Ford kid driving the all-Ford hot rod, Tasca defeated fellow Ford Mustang drivers Ashley Force Hood and John Force, as well as the Dodge Charger of Matt Hagan and the Toyota Solara of Del Worsham.

The Tasca family and Bob Tasca III have a long history at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Tasca remembers watching John Force and Bob Glidden race here years ago while growing up. Then, as a professional racer, Tasca earned his first Alcohol Funny Car win at Englishtown in 2007, topping that performance today with his first Englishtown win in a Nitro Funny Car.

“It’s hard to put words together right now,” said Tasca. “This [Englishtown] is a special place for my family and grandfather. To win with all of my family here, what can I say? It’s just unbelievable. I can’t thank Chris Cunningham and Marc Denner and my guys enough. I’ve thrown so much at them with this Ford tune-up [BOSS 500] and it’s just been incredible. A lot of thanks goes out to the [John] Force camp because when we announced this ‘One Ford’ approach it could have gone either way. It is one Ford team and we share a lot of resources to make these Fords as dominant as they are, but this is a moment that I will cherish forever. This was the place where I first won in my Alcohol Funny Car and there’s just magic about this place for me. I know my grandfather isn’t here, but he’s looking down from above. It’s just a really cool, really cool moment.”

After four rounds of qualifying, Tasca was seeded in the seventh position. His best qualifying effort came on Friday evening when the track and air temperatures were cooler. Tasca raced his FordParts.com Shelby Mustang down the track in 4.121 seconds at 305.91 miles per hour.

In the opening round, Tasca defeated Ashley Force Hood with a 4.162 second pass at 303.71 miles per hour. Although Force Hood was first off the line, Tasca took the lead by the 330-foot marker and earned the win. Force Hood raced her Mustang to the line in 4.515 seconds at 266.06 miles per hour. Tasca ran low ET and top speed of the first round giving him lane choice in the second round.

During the second round, Tasca defeated 14-time champ and No. 2 qualifier John Force. Despite being first out of the gate, Force smoked the tires at 300 feet while Tasca made a clean pass to the finish line. The FordParts.com Mustang would post low ET and top speed of the second round, reaching the 1000-foot mark in 4.175 seconds at 300.93 miles per hour, compared to Force’s 4.458 second run at 249.03 miles per hour.

In the semifinal pairing, Tasca faced Matt Hagan, a two-time winner this season. Hagan held the advantage at the starting line but Tasca powered by Hagan to advance to the final round for the fifth time in his career. Tasca’s margin of victory was 0.0032 seconds, approximately 17 inches. Tasca was the fastest ET of the semifinals with a 4.154 second pass at 302.89 miles per hour.

On Monday morning, Tasca pulled his Funny Car into the staging lanes. Tasca was first off the line and reached the finish line in 4.107 seconds. Initially, the timing showed Worsham as the winner, but the run data showed Tasca crossed the 1000-foot line first. Worsham crossed the finish line in 4.177 seconds.

“I got out [of the car] and they pushed me to the right lane and I didn’t see the win light and I looked out and Del [Worsham] was right on my bumper,” explained Tasca. “My guys did their job and I knew I was on time, I just didn’t know it was as good as it was. I gave Del the thumbs up and said good job. I was walking back with my head hung down and the camera people came up and they said ‘You won!’ I don’t know what was on my face but they said my facial expression went crazy. You’re so emotional and I think that’s what makes me do what I do. I bottle it up and I use this energy and then when the race is over, what I can tell you? It’s an amazing feeling.”

This victory marks Tasca’s first win running the completed BOSS 500 engine program. Tasca and the team installed the final elements of the Ford Racing and John Force Racing-developed Funny Car engine program just before this event.

“Talk about the magic of the all-Ford kid in the all-Ford hot rod with the all-Ford engine,” said Tasca. “This is a pretty magical moment. We’ve had two runs with this motor [BOSS 500] in Chicago on Monday. We were on a great run on Saturday night and we lost a blower belt, but our car was going to run at 12 or 13. We were real confident going into Sunday. When you run low ET, top speed every single round and leave with the trophy, that’s about as dominant as it gets.”