February 10, 2008
Coventry’s Bob Tasca III and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Shelby Mustang yesterday lost in the second round of the NHRA Winternationals but the weekend was considered a moral victory. “It’s a huge win for us,” said Tasca of his first NHRA Nitro Funny Car weekend. “To qualify at the Winternationals and to win in the first round and go out there and make a strong pass in the second round is just awesome.”
Tasca faced Ashley Force in the second round of competition and put together a 4.955 second, 310.63 mph run, finishing .082 of a second behind Force. Tasca was the No. 14 qualifier for the race, which put him alongside fellow rookie, Melanie Troxel, in the first round. The 2008 Rookie-of-the-Year contender earned his spot in the second round after posting a 5.235 second, 225.97 mph winning run against Troxel.
--PCGCampbell.com
Posted by Chris Venditto 
at 9:45 PM | Permalink
February 9, 2008
After three days of qualifying and dealing with a tire shake issue, Hope, R.I.'s Bob Tasca III and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang team earned a spot in Sunday’s NHRA Winternationals at Pomona, Calif. Tasca became the No. 14 qualifier with a 4.845 ET and 321.42 mph run in the third round of qualifying held on Saturday.
“That was awesome,” said Tasca after his third qualifying run. “Our team needed that. They worked so hard after having the tire shake issue the last two days, but we were able to give the car what it needed to get the ET that we wanted.”
With a spot already earned for the race, Tasca’s fourth-round 4.86 ET effort ended in the sand after having problems with his parachutes.
“The last time I went in the sand was in Englishtown and we won the race,” said Tasca. “I knew I was in trouble because I didn’t feel the chutes deploy. We had a failure with one of the levers and we had the body crack on the other parachute, so it never actually released the cable. The good news is that we’re in the show and we’ve put ourselves in a position to win.”
Tasca will face fellow nitro rookie Melanie Troxel in the first round of competition on Sunday.
“Melanie is new to funny car, but not to the sport. She’s run dragsters and she’s a great driver. We’re within three hundredths of a second in our qualifying runs and I feel pretty good about that. A lot of big names did not qualify for the race, so just to be here and be in the show for the first time is exciting for all of us.”
--PCGCampbell.com
Posted by Chris Venditto at 11:42 PM | Permalink
