Wally Goes to Dearborn

Last week Ford invited me to participate in “Take Your Kid To Work Day.” I had a lot of fun with the kids, answering their questions and signing hero cards for them. It’s always neat to see their reaction when they hear what you do because it is really hard for people to believe just how fast these car are! It’s always fun when you have them guess how much horsepower our Shelby Mustang produces and you hear all sorts of numbers.

In addition to talking with more than 200 kids, I was also a guest judge at the Ford Flex decorating contest. There were several groups, each with kids on a team, and they painted a fiberglass miniature model of the Flex. The heartbreaking part of it was having to judge it in front of them. I thought it was going to be a secret ballot, but to judge the winning Flex and take pictures with the winners was a fun time.

Then on Friday morning I achieved a major goal that I set for myself when we started this program. We had a celebration in Dearborn, and I delivered the Gainesville trophy to Ken Czubay, Brian Wolfe and Brett Wheatley, the key Ford people in our program. It was great to be there with them and their team. I was able to share with them my story, how I got into racing and about the win down in Gainesville.

To give them a Wally, for me, was kind of a small mission, but certainly a mission accomplished on that front. Our whole foundation for our program is “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday,” and we’ve accomplished the win on Sunday, so now we got to keep going. I’m certain that there are more wins in our future, but the first is certainly one of the sweetest and to leave that trophy behind and have Ford put it up in their case is a very rewarding experience.

While in Michigan, I went to the AutoWeek offices to meet Mac Morrison and Roger Hart to talk about racing. Whenever you get the chance to talk about what we do and how we did and what the experience is like as a driver, it’s always a great time. I know the guys at AutoWeek enjoyed our conversation. While I was there I met Keith Crain, he’s a pretty cool guy and he’s really a legend. He and my grandfather were friendly when he raced back in the ’60s. Keith has an appreciation for what we do. I had some time to spend with him and share some stories for what we do here today in 21^st century drag racing versus back in the ’60s.

Before heading to St. Louis, I spent a couple days back home with my wife and children in Rhode Island, tested the Cobra Jet at zMax Dragway in Charlotte and checked in on the guys in the Concord shop. I’m working with my Uncle Carl to get him a Super Gas license. He is making great progress but it is not easy to jump in and drive a nine-second racecar. After lunch I had to jump in and make a pass, I ran a 9.88ET at 140mph! What a fun car to drive.

Although it was an off week for me, I was busy. I’m looking forward to racing in St. Louis this weekend. St. Louis is neat place and we had a solid Mustang there last year. We’re about two rounds out of second place, and the top 10 cars are really tight in the points. I think we’re due to go a few rounds off there, and St. Louis is as good a place as any to get a few rounds under our belt and another Wally!

California Dreamin’

Hi, race fans. March was a busy month for us and almost too busy for me to blog. But since this is an off-weekend for us, I can tell you all about my trip to see Jay Leno and the American Idols.

In my Gainesville winner’s speech, I thanked the women of the program because they let us chase our dreams of racing. Sometimes we get caught up in this sport because we just love what we do. There’s a huge price the women of the sport have to pay and we couldn’t do it without them.

My wife, Terri, crew chief, Chris Cunningham, and his wife, Shelia, scheduled a trip to Los Angeles before the Gainesville racefor Valentine’s Day. Chris and I were trying to think of something cool for our wives for Valentine’s Day. So, Chris and I thought going to see American Idol would be fun. One thing led to another, and through the brilliant efforts of the people at Ford and Motorcraft, we were able to take a pretty neat tour of not only American Idol, but we went to The Tonight Show on Monday night, met Jay Leno and gave him a helmet. That was real special; I’ve never been to anything like that.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck was one of Jay’s guests that night and she’s from Cranston, Rhode Island, believe it or not, where I’m from. We talked with Elizabeth after the taping about home, and she knew Tasca Ford as soon as I said my name. Before we left that night, I gave Jay one of my Motorcraft/Quick Lane helmets. It was pretty cool because he knew who we were, he loves drag racing, and he’s friends with John Force and Ashley Force Hood.

Tuesday morning, Jay knew we were touring his garage, and he had already taken the helmet down on Monday night after the show, so it would be on display when we arrived. I got there Tuesday morning. We got a first class tour of Jay’s garage. What can I say about it? I think you could live there; all you needed was a mattress. It had a kitchen that was right out of something you would see in Las Vegas and the history of cars that he has there was beyond words. It was absolutely remarkable. Every car was registered, ready to go and detailed to perfection.

In the other building, he had a complete restoration operation where he can restore a car from scratch and had all of the equipment needed. The people that he has working there, you can just tell, that that’s their passion. With Jay’s lifestyle and schedule, and the incredible amount of hours that guy puts in, that’s his sanctuary where he goes to unwind and enjoy the fruits of his labors, his cars.

Then Tuesday evening it was off to American Idol. What was really cool, for me anyways, was to meet a lot of celebrities. It’s amazing how many people know drag racing, know and follow what we do as drivers. What was even more amazing, and it was a very interesting comment, the people who don’t know who we are, they know we go fast.

I met Simon Cowell, of all places, leaving the bathroom. We didn’t have a lot of time together because it was during a commercial break, but I introduced myself to Simon and he said, ‘Man, you guys go fast.’ That’s all he really knew, and I told him how fast we drive and he grabbed my arm and he said, ‘Impossible, I can’t even fathom that.’ I told him we go 300 mph, and he asked how long it took us to go 200 mph, and then I told him we go about 267 mph in about three seconds and he couldn’t believe it. That’s the reaction people who really don’t know what we do, when we tell them what we do, they don’t believe. They can’t believe that an object can accelerate to 300 mph in four seconds flat. It’s pretty neat explaining it to people, and I have to be honest, I see these fuel cars come through the finish line, and I drive one, and I can’t believe there’s somebody in it, that’s how fast they are.

American Idol was an amazing experience and I met all of the Idols backstage. A lot of them saw that I brought a Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew jersey with me. I had all 13 of them sign it, which I’m going to get framed and put up in our shop in Charlotte. I invited Lil Rounds and her family to the Memphis race in October because that’s where they live. Hopefully she wins American Idol and will be too busy on the tour and won’t have time to come to the race. But even if she wins it and has time, we would love for her to come out with us and see what we do. Some of them were just as excited to meet me, as I was to meet them, it just goes to show how far our sport is coming.

Which is faster, a space shuttle or funny car?

Hi, race fans. Although things didn’t work out to our expectations in Houston last weekend, I was able to do something that I’ve always wanted to do – tour Johnson Space Center.

Since I was a kid, I’ve always been fascinated with space shuttles, Apollo 13 and landing on the moon. When ESPN invited me to tour Johnson Space Center, it was something I just couldn’t say no to.

I was thrilled to have had the opportunity to go on the tour because not only was it meeting the people, it also was seeing the history of space exploration. What amazes me is their aspirations of the future and what they want to achieve. It’s so motivating.

”What a place to work!” was a comment that I said to a lot of the employees. Imagine waking up every morning and working on projects that send people to the moon and outer space. We had the opportunity to meet a couple of the astronauts and had a couple of them out to the race track.

Both of them Scott Kelly and Mark Kelly (brothers) had flown multiple missions in space. Scott is heading to the space station for six months this time next year.

It was truly an honor to meet the astronauts and everybody that worked at the space center. They told us about their missions and I was amazed. Their bravery is just incredible.

While on the tour, we saw the inside of the shuttle and where the astronauts live on missions as short as two weeks or as long as six months. These men and women are just incredibly brave and it was very motivating just to be around them. Their stories were just amazing, both of the mission and the behind-the-scenes stories about what goes on in the space shuttle. I couldn’t believe what they were telling me. Things like how you go to sleep at night, and if you get sick in space, and simple things like just going to the bathroom, and how complicated a task becomes. It was an amazing experience.

I had an opportunity to put on 3D virtual reality goggles; when you open your eyes, you’re in space. It is unbelievable how realistic it was. You can look down and see Earth, look to your left you see the guy next to you and you’re navigating on the outside of the space station. Astronauts use that exact same protocol so they don’t lose their way, because there is no up and there is no down in a zero-gravity environment. They use that just so they know how to navigate around the space station when they have to repair things when they get to certain places.


After we toured the space center, it was the astronauts’ turn to tour our world of drag racing. We invited them out to the track on Friday and Saturday and brought them up to the starting line. One of the astronauts could not believe the energy, and said that it reminded him of being in the shuttle when feeling that power.

We kind of joked between the two of us. I asked him, ‘How long does it take you to get to 300 miles per hour?’ and he said, ”20 seconds.” I said, ”Well, I’ve got you beat.” Then he asked, ”Bob, how long does it take you to get to 17,000 miles an hour?” And I said, ”Now you’ve got me beat.” It was very opposite, the dynamics between the two vessels. I have all the respect for them and they had a new-found respect for what we do.

It was a blast. We made some really good friends on this trip. Next year, they’re going to give us an even more behind-the-scenes tour. We might go up in a zero gravity flight and experience weightlessness or as close to what the astronauts experience in space. We made a lot of friends.

I spent some time with Paul Page getting in and out of the space shuttle and sitting in the cockpit. I’m going to stick to driving Funny Cars and leave the space missions to the astronauts. It was a pretty neat experience.

See you at the track!

Gainesville Victory

It’s great to be back here blogging! I’ve had an exciting week and so much to tell you.

Let’s start this one with Gainesville. What a weekend! To qualify No. 1, and beat veteran Jim Head, our teammate Tim Wilkerson, the 14-time champ John Force and then my dear friend Tony Pedregon in the finals was a dream come true. What else can you say? When you beat the champions of the sport that solidifies your place as a major contender in 2009 season. For me, I keep it in perspective, it was only one win but it was a great win!

Having my family there to see my win at Gatornationals was just perfect. They don’t come to every race so it was even more special when your family, people that you love so much are around you, and it was great to have the kids in the Winner’s Circle. I know it will be a moment they will never forget.

Not to sound like a cliché, but from there we went to Disney World with Tony Pedregon’s family. I’ve known Tony since 1996 and our families are very close. We had a great time. I think our kids like the pool more than the Magic Kingdom.

When I came home to Rhode Island, I had a hero’s welcome. All of the local news stations covered my return home and hundreds of friends where on hand to congratulate us. It really hit me a few days after the race, when I received emails and comments from people all over the country, how fun it is to be a part of something like this. If there is one thing that people get out of this blog it’s that every text message, every email, and every Facebook comment I receive, I really take time to read each one. I try to respond to nearly everyone and while I can’t, I really do read everyone. I’m very blessed to be able to bring this kind of excitement and enjoyment to so many people.

I get most of the glory being the driver, but in truth I’m a very small piece of the equation. I couldn’t be successful without all of the hard work that the team puts in and the support we get from Ford, Motorcraft and Quick Lane. Everyone wants to be associated with a winner and to be able to capitalize on a successful asset, I’m just fortunate to represent Ford, Quick Lane, Motorcraft and a great group of guys on my team. Chris Cunningham said in the Winner’s Circle that he was glad he was able to give me my first win. And let the truth be told, I’m just so glad to give him, the guys and Motorcraft and Quick Lane their first win because of all of the hard work that goes into one of these programs.

Cobra Jettin’ in Charlotte and Gainesville

Everyone thinks that drivers go on vacation when they’re not racing, but that’s certainly not the case for us. Since the race in Phoenix, We have been really busy getting the Tasca Racing shop together in Charlotte. A couple of the guys came right back to Rhode Island from Phoenix to load up a lot of the equipment that we had at our race shop in RI. I’ve spent a couple of days down in Concord, NC with Chris Cunningham, Marc Denner and the guys working on where to place the equipment and a lot of the odds and ends that go into building a racing shop.

We also had the opportunity to bring our 2008 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet down to Charlotte to zMAX Dragway, and it was pretty cool because it was opening day for the race track. The track has been closed all winter and the Ford Mustang Cobra Jet that my uncle, Carl Tasca Sr., drove was the first car down the race track. That was pretty cool for him because he hasn’t been in a car like the Cobra Jet in a long time.

The interesting thing is we operate in a 60 mile per hour world. When you put somebody in a Mustang that goes 145 miles per hour in nine seconds, the car is so far ahead of you, that you’ll do things you don’t realize you’re doing. On one of the runs my uncle left before the tree came on and he said that he didn’t even know it because it’s so fast. It was fun for me to spend some time with him and take him through some of the pointers that were passed onto me along the way. By the third or fourth time in the car, Uncle Carl was going up and down the race track. It was fun in a multitude of ways to see him have a great time in the car and to see the Ford Cobra Jet back on the track, it was great to just be a part of that.

The next couple of days are going to be kind of action packed for me. I’m heading out to Los Angeles on Monday to meet Jay Leno and to tour his garage. I’m bringing a helmet for him, which I think will be pretty neat to have him put into his garage, which I hear is just incredible. I’ve been on the website and seen some of the neat cars. I know Jay has always held Ford close to his heart, so it should be fun to go out there and spend a little time in his garage. I’ll be with my wife Therase and Chris Cunningham and his wife, Sheila. Chris is already out on the West Coast disassembling the blower dyno we purchased from Del Worsham that will be sent out to our new shop in Charlotte.

Tuesday night we are going to see American Idol. It’s a show that my wife has watched regularly and I get to watch it when I’m in town. It’s a great show, and great fun. Hopefully, we’ll get the opportunity to meet Ryan Seacrest or Paula, Kara, Randy or even Simon. I brought a Motorcraft shirt with me, so maybe on my next blog you’ll see Ryan in a Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing shirt.

After Idol, it’s back home to switch suitcases and head out to Gainesville. I’m taking my son Austin; this is the first time we will be traveling alone together. My wife is bringing the other two boys down on Friday because we are going to spend some time in Disney World after the race with the Pedregons, Tony Pedregon is my dear friend, and his wife and my wife are great friends. I’m looking forward to taking Austin down on Thursday, it will be fun for my four year old to spend a little time with his dad. When people win the Super Bowl they always say, “I’m going to Disney World,” hopefully we’ll win the race and we can say the same thing. Last year Pedregon won in Gainesville, so I think the Disney trip brought him a little bit of luck, hopefully it brings me a little bit of luck this year.

For all the race fans going to Gainesville, be sure to stop by Nitro Alley and The Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing Experience. I’m a fan of the car that is parked out in front of the display – the Tasca Cobra Jet. The display is such an important part of our program with Motorcraft and Quick Lane and Ford. The fans have an unprecedented access to us and the sponsors have unprecedented access to the fans. That’s the wonderful thing about NHRA racing. The midway display allows the fans to have a pretty cool interactive experience. Whether it’s the pit crew contest on the Quick Lane side or the Holeshot contest on the Motorcraft side. Then you have the Custom Accessories display where you can win a lot of prizes and have some fun there. We’re also going to have the Cobra Jet there and this one is special to me because it’s the Tasca version. Our CJ was in the area, so Motorcraft and Ford asked us to have our Cobra Jet on display. It’s lettered up like the nostalgia one was lettered up back in the 60s. I know there’s a lot of buzz going on. A Cobra Jet won at Pomona, not our car, and a lot of people want to get up close and see one of these things. We’re happy to have it out in front of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing Experience display.

See you in Gainesville!

Bob Tasca – Driver, Owner, Hockey Dad and American Idol Fan

Hello Race Fans!

Here we are! We’re looking at the second race of the season. I’m thrilled to be back racing in the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang. We’re going to have a great year.

Firebird International Raceway is a special place to me because that is where I earned my NHRA Funny Car competition license just three weeks before the start of the 2008 season. Once I had that license in my hand, we were ready to go. Last year at this time, I was anticipating the Phoenix race as a place where we would be able to capitalize on test data and first-hand experience. All that went awry when we were unable to qualify our Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang Funny Car during the 2008 qualifying competition.

Fast-forward one year and we’re looking at Phoenix again. Crew Chief Chris Cunningham and the entire Motorcraft/Quick Lane team are ready to conquer Phoenix again with a whole new fire. Now that we have a full season under our belts; a technical alliance with Tim Wilkerson, 24 test runs during the offseason, a third of which were logged at Firebird; and a strong season-opening showing at Pomona, we couldn’t be more prepared. Phoenix is a race that has been circled on the calendar for several months. This year it’s a whole different deal. We have a lot of data on Phoenix, so out of the gate we’re a lot more confident.

Even though we have increased experience, Chris, the crew and I understand the unique characteristics of the Firebird race track. Phoenix is known for tire shake. It’s one of those tracks that’s really funny because some of the quickest runs in history have been put down in Phoenix, but it’s also a track during testing, where I think it took 85 percent of the field three days before they could make a full pass.

Since my last blog, I have been on the phone almost everyday coordinating the final details on our new Tasca Racing shop in Charlotte. We are moving in the first week of March. So as soon as the guys are done in Phoenix, they’re going to the shop. I’m so excited about that. We’re getting our blower dyno right after Phoenix.

Racing is in the Tasca family. My grandfather raced the Cobra Jet 40 years ago in NHRA competition and the new Cobra Jets returned to Pomona this year. I’m proud to say our new Cobra Jet came in a couple of weeks ago and we’re in the process of getting it race ready. We’re actually going to test in Charlotte on March 5th at the zMAX Dragway in Charlotte. My Uncle Carl is going to make his debut in the Tasca Cobra Jet at zMAX.

How would you like to see the Cobra Jet? It will be on display in Gainesville so anyone who will be at the Gainesville race will get to see the Tasca Cobra Jet, the new version of it, 21st Century Cobra Jet. We’ve been working with Ford Racing, because Brian Wolfe has been very instrumental in helping us get that car race ready.

I wouldn’t be in racing if I didn’t have the support of my family, my wife Therase and boys Bob, Austin and Cameron. In between Pomona and Phoenix, my six-year-old son, Bob, has been in three hockey games. Bob just loves hockey. I think he skates better than he walks now, but it’s fun to see at such a young age how competitive all the kids are, but particularly my son. I think it’s great to get kids involved with sports as young as you can. It teaches them teamwork, competition, winning and losing: all things that are involved in Funny Car racing, which I love so much, are also a large part of hockey. I’ve had fun watching my son play out there.

Lucky for me, Valentine’s Day fell on a weekend when I was home, so I was able to work on a great gift for Therase. After Phoenix, we are going to Los Angeles, to see an American Idol Show. My wife is a fanatic, believe it or not, I watch it with her, but of the two of us - she’s the really big fan. I think it is a great contest, so that will be fun. I’m really looking forward to going. We’ll definitely have a great time; I think she’ll love it.

I’m so thrilled that the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Season is underway. We’re taking the momentum from Pomona and hope to carry it through the year, right back to Pomona in November.

I’ll keep you posted on the latest news with our Motorcraft/Quick Lane team. Have a fantastic time in Phoenix and we’ll see you trackside.


-Bob

Welcome to 2009!

Happy New Year, race fans!

As I look toward the 2009 season, I can’t help but look back at 2008 and how things have changed so much in matter of 12 months. Less than one month from the first race of the season, I was getting my first race car. That day was January 15th, and I couldn’t wait for the season to start.

Ford had signed me to a multi-year contract and I was on my way to the Phoenix test. It wasn’t until the last run of the last day of the final test session that I earned my license. Looking back, that was a lot of pressure but we pulled through. We earned that license, and by we, I include everybody that helped, my entire team, Motorcraft, Quick Lane and of course Ford.

There are a couple of exciting changes this year for us at Tasca Racing. First, let me tell you about the new technical alliance with Tim Wilkerson Racing. Running as a single car entry in the NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car Series is a daunting task. Multi-car teams enjoy a significant advantage because of the extra runs and additional data that they have access to. As a single car team your margin for error is zero. If you get sidetracked on your set-up then you are on your own. One of my goals when I formed Tasca Racing was to foster a technical alliance for our second season.

When I looked at forming a technical alliance, I not only wanted to associate myself with a team that is championship caliber and a person that had the same philosophy that I have, but also a chemistry that will work well with my crew chief Chris Cunningham. Tim and Chris have known each other for many years and have a similar style on how they approach a tune-up. Tim is a first-class family man, which is obviously a big part of what I’m all about. He races his car in a very simple but effective manner, which is very similar to my racing style. He’s just a phenomenal competitor. The more I get to know him, the more excited I am about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him and his team and to attack this 2009 season.

Another thing that’s new for 2009 is our shop in Concord, North Carolina. By the second week of January, the Tasca Racing shop had the foundation complete, a roof and siding. Those are all big steps in building a building. We’ve got some great builders out there that have done an exceptional job keeping this thing on track. We hope to move in just after the Gainesville race. Then that’s when the work really begins. We have to build our blower dyno to get our blower program off the ground and get our clutch dyno operational. There are a lot of things that have to happen once they hand us the keys to the building.

As soon as the Pomona event was over last fall, I was ready for the 2009 season to start, so we went to Las Vegas with Wilkerson’s set up along with some change Chris wanted to try and made some runs. We wanted to get into the off-season at least with a couple of runs under our belt at Las Vegas. We made nine runs; five of the nine runs were the quickest runs we’ve ever made, ever, to half-track. We weren’t making full runs by plan purpose, but it was just incredible. A lot of what we worked on and wanted to try really came together well for us at that Las Vegas test. Certainly, it was a great way to go into the off-season with that enthusiasm knowing that we’ve got a fast hot rod. We struggled in 2008 in certain areas of the race track, but using that time to test in Las Vegas and going into the off-season is a real morale boost. It had Chris and the guys pumped up.

One thing I learned in the 2008 season can best be told by my conversation with Bob Glidden, and who’s more of a world champion than Bob? He said, ‘Kid, don’t ever look back. Look forward, take the good, leave the bad behind and don’t ever look back in this sport because you can’t let it affect you or your thinking next weekend. There are so many lessons that you learn and there are so many lessons that you’re about to learn. But you just have to learn from them and move on.’

With the future in mind, the 2009 season should be a great year for Tasca Racing. We wouldn’t have gotten to ’09 without the progress we made in ’08. Our foundation is set and we’re ready to challenge for the championship. But the championship just doesn’t happen on the race track. I’m looking for two championships this year – one on the track and the other off the track. My grandfather coined the phrase Win on Sunday, and Sell on Monday. Winning on Sunday is why we race. Selling on Monday keeps us racing. If you can’t sell on Monday, there’s no point of racing on Sunday. We have to win on Sunday and win on Monday. For me, that holds true on both sides because on Monday, I’m in the dealership trying to figure out how to win both on- and off-track. It’s a pretty neat relationship that I think is going to deliver pretty tremendous results here and for years to come.

I just can’t wait to get out there and hit the ground running with Tim and Chris leading the way. We’re going to be a tough tandem to beat in 2009.

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