Bob Tasca III Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Centers Ford Shelby Mustang Nitro Funny Car category NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
51st annual Kragen O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals Auto Club Raceway at Pomona February 24 – 27, 2011 Race 1 of 22
BOB TASCA AND MOTORCRAFT / QUICK LANE MUSTANG PRIMED FOR CHAMPIONSHIP CHASE AS 2011 FUNNY CAR SEASON OPENS
DEARBORN, MI – February 24, 2011– At some point, every driver faces one in their career. A defining moment – a moment where the competitor becomes a champion and a quest becomes a championship. Bob Tasca, driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Centers Ford Shelby Mustang Funny Car faced what he feels was a defining moment at Pomona at the season finale last season.
Tasca faced a first-round match-up with Matt Hagan, the NHRA Full Throttle Series Funny Car points leader. John Force, another Ford driver, needed Hagan to be defeated in the early rounds to stake his claim to the championship title. In the spirit of One Ford, Tasca delivered and shortly thereafter Force hoisted a record 15th championship trophy. “What a feeling,” said Tasca, who broke into a grin months after the actual run. “To win that race is one of the greatest moments I have had behind the wheel, even higher than winning races. You knew what was on the line and you knew that there was a championship in play and we fired off as Force calls it the ‘big shot heard around the world.’ “All the credit has to go to John, because at the end of the day, he still had to win two rounds. His team did a tremendous job the whole year and John just defies the test of time as a driver. He has unbelievable experience, he is just tremendous behind the wheel, and he won the championship, so hats off to their program. It was a defining moment for the One Ford concept coming together. It was also a defining moment for our team. When our backs were against the wall, the world was watching, and we had to step up and deliver that victory to deliver a Ford championship. The One Ford approach paid off in 2010 and if you are a betting man I think it is going to pay off in 2011 too.” The question now becomes how Tasca will translate that moment into success throughout the 2011 season.
“I think it’s just picking up where we left off,” Tasca said. “This is the first time we ended a season with the tune-up that we’ll start a season with. Over the last three years we’ve gone through a lot of transitions with different set-ups and combinations and we made that One Ford announcement last year, and it was a huge momentum boost for our program. Just for Marc (Denner, Co-Crew Chief), Chris (Cunningham, Crew Chief) and the guys to roll into Pomona with basically the same set-up we left with, with some minor changes…we are running the all-new JFR (John Force Racing) Ford chassis. We did a lot of testing at Palm Beach (International Raceway) and had some of the quickest 330 times of my career, so we’re real happy with how that car’s reacting, and really, truthfully just can’t wait until Pomona.” Tasca isn’t far from the top. He enters the 2011 season fresh off a fifth-place finish in the standings last year with three career wins under his belt. “We have gone through so many evolutions of our program,” Tasca said. “Literally, we started from scratch (in 2008) where we did not own a race car and didn’t have any motors heading into the first year. Then we evolved the tune-up and last year we spent all off-season testing a combination, which we were excited about, but then we made the One Ford announcement where we put the BOSS 500 engine in our car, which I couldn’t be happier about. “Therefore, this off-season we were able to test the motor that we are going to run the whole year. The off-season is the time to collect that critical data and to work on our big speed and big ET tune-ups and put that in our back pocket for the end of the season when the championship rolls around.”
Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing on the Web Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/MQL_Racing Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/MQLRacing Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/motorcraftquicklaneracing
Motorcraft/Quick Lane Notes – 2011 marks the fourth year Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD) brands Motorcraft and Quick Lane Tire & Auto Centers are a sponsor of Bob Tasca III and Tasca Racing. – Motorcraft continues its relationship with NHRA, having sponsored Hall of Fame NHRA driver Bob Glidden and drag racing legend Kenny Bernstein, among others, in the late 80s and early 90s. – Motorcraft products strike the perfect balance of precision, quality and pricing. – Manufactured to strict specifications, they install quickly and give the confidence of doing a job right the first time. Motorcraft is the preferred choice of Ford Motor Company. – Quick Lane Tire & Auto Centers provide the services your car or truck needs most, performed by factory-trained experts and on your schedule. You will never need an appointment and you will get service while you wait, even on evenings and weekends. They will take care of any make, or model using quality Motorcraft parts. – Quick Lane offers routine maintenance and light repair services, such as oil and filter changes, brake repairs and tire replacement for all makes and models. – Quick Lane’s nationwide network will surpass 600 facilities in 2011. Visit www.quicklane.com to find one of the Quick Lanes in Southern California.
Television Saturday, Feb. 26 ESPN2 will televise qualifying highlights at 11:00 PM – 1:00 AM ET Sunday, Feb. 27 ESPN2 will televise three hours of eliminations from 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET
Satellite Friday, Feb. 25, 8 – 8:30 p.m. (ET), AMC 3 / Transponder 20C Saturday, Feb.26, 10 – 10:30p.m. (ET), AMC 3 / Transponder 20C Sunday, Feb. 27, 10:30 – 11 p.m. (ET), AMC 3 / Transponder 20C (Downlink: 4100MHz, vertical; Transmission: MPG2; HD: 720p; Data Rate: 40.461470554 Mbp; Symbol Rate: 29.27 Ms; FEC: ¾; Bandwidth: 36 Mhz) This is a Digital HD Feed. Video news release contains race action highlights each day and winners’ interviews on Sunday.
About Motorcraft Motorcraft® offers a complete line of replacement parts that are recommended and approved by Ford Motor Company. From routine maintenance to underhood repairs, Motorcraft parts offer exceptional value with the highest quality and right fit at competitive prices. Motorcraft parts are available nationwide at Ford and Lincoln dealers, independent distributors, and automotive parts retailers and are backed by Ford Motor Company’s Service Parts Limited Warranty. For more information, visit www.motorcraft.com.
About Quick Lane Tire & Auto Centers Quick Lane® provides automotive quick services for all makes and models. Quick Lane’s nationwide network of 600 facilities, each providing the convenience of an aftermarket company (no appointment necessary, service while you wait, evening and weekend hours, competitive prices) with the confidence of a major automotive manufacturer (quality parts, factory-trained technicians). Quick Lane® is a registered trademark of Ford Motor Company. For more information, visit www.quicklane.com.
About FordParts.com FordParts.com allows repair shops, body shops, fleets and do-it-yourselfers to purchase online over 280,000 Genuine Ford and Motorcraft parts quickly and easily. As well as the convenience of ordering parts online 24/7, FordParts.com provides full line catalogs with VIN look-up, parts pricing, inventory availability, FedEx over-night shipping, and technical illustrations of over 22,000 parts and assemblies. For more information, visit www.fordparts.com.
About Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 163,000 employees and about 70 plants worldwide, the company’s brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.
