Heartbreak in Reading; Tasca and Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing Team Exit in First Round

READING, October 11, 2010: As defending race champions in Reading, Bob Tasca III and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing team had high hopes of scoring a win this weekend. Unfortunately, tire smoke ended their day in the first round.

As Tasca predicted, Reading presented some of the best conditions for qualifying on Friday and Saturday. During Friday’s second qualifying session, Tasca posted his best time of the day with a 4.085 second pass at 306.95 miles per hour.

After the four qualifying sessions were complete, Tasca was locked into the seventh qualifying position. Tasca’s Reading qualifying effort marks the 17th time of the 2010 season that he qualified in the top half of field.

During Sunday’s eliminations, Tasca faced Del Worsham. Tasca had the better reaction time but started smoking the tires around the 300-foot marker. Worsham smoked the tires just after Tasca but was able to recover and cross the finish line first. Tasca posted a 4.934-second run at 179.59 miles per hour compared to Worsham’s 4.507-second pass at 270.10 miles per hour.

“We smoked the tires and didn’t make it,” said Tasca. “Most of the cars smoked the tires; it was a crazy day. We had our Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang tuned to make a solid run and it was trying to run, but didn’t make it. I smoked the tires and started to pedal it and came within inches of hitting the wall.”

Despite a first round loss, Tasca remains in the fifth position with two races left in the 2010 season.

“We came into Reading in fifth and we’re leaving in fifth,” said Tasca. “With two races to go, we’re going to try to finish out the season strong. We have a lot to look forward to next year. Right now, we’re about finishing this year on a high note and obviously, working on elements for next year.”

Now in his third year as the driver/owner of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang, Tasca studies each run and learns from every race. Continuous improvement is what Tasca knows will take his team into the next race and season.

“We are leaving Reading with a lot more knowledge than what we had on Friday morning,” said Tasca. “We all wish we can have that run over again and make the appropriate changes. For our team, it’s a learning lesson. There’s always good we take away from every race. This Ford BOSS 500 platform is still a new tune-up for us. It’s showed a lot of promise on cool weather tracks and it’s given us a few curve balls at the same time. We’re going to digest this weekend, take the good and leave the bad behind. We’ll head into Las Vegas with a clean slate. We’re going to stay in Las Vegas and test after the race, so we’ll have a lot of data to put to use in Pomona and more importantly the 2011 season.”

Cruz Pedregon defeated Matt Hagan in the finals to win the 26th Annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals in Reading, PA.

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series returns on Friday, October 29, for the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Points 1. Matt Hagan, 2442; 2. John Force, 2378; 3. Jack Beckman, 2349; 4. Ashley Force Hood, 2304; 5. Bob Tasca III, 2248; 6. Robert Hight, 2229; 7. Del Worsham, 2201; 8. Tim Wilkerson, 2199; 9. Ron Capps, 2192; 10. Tony Pedregon, 2167