Tasca Exits In Second Round At Brainerd

DEARBORN, August 16, 2010: Bob Tasca III and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing team had two close races on Sunday in Brainerd. After a victory in the first round, Tasca was just a few inches short in the second round and lost on a holeshot.

Tasca entered Sunday’s eliminations as the fourth qualifier and faced John Force in the first round. In a tight battle of the Ford Mustangs, Tasca’s Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang was the quickest at the 1,000-foot marker. Tasca posted a 4.15 second run at 298.07 miles per hour compared to Force’s 4.164 second run at 291.13 miles per hour. Tasca’s margin of victory was 0.0023 seconds, approximately 12 inches.

“It was a great race against John Force in the first round,” said Tasca. “We came up on the right side of that match, except we lost the engine.”

In the second round, Tasca faced Bob Bode. In another close side-by-side race to the finish line, Tasca was defeated by Bode on a holeshot. Tasca posted a 4.128 second pass at 296.31 miles per hour versus Bode’s 4.14 second pass at 299.20 miles per hour. Bode’s margin of victory over Tasca was 0.0085 seconds, approximately four feet.

“We were looking for a big run and broke a lifter at half track,” said Tasca. “Our Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang still ran good enough to win but Bode was just a little bit better at the line. We were running on seven cylinders and did some serious damage to the engine against Bode. We beat John in the first round and we’ll hold on to the seventh spot in the Countdown.”

The series takes a two week break before the final six races of the season. NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing returns to the track on September 3 in Indianapolis for the US Nationals.

“This was not the way we wanted to end the regular season, but I’m glad it happened now,” said Tasca. “We need to get these close losses out of the way before Indianapolis. We have a couple of weeks before we race in Indy; I’m looking forward to getting there and making a run for the championship.”

Bob Bode won Sunday’s 29th Annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.