BOB TASCA III DISCUSSES BUSINESS, RACING AMID COVID-19

by Tracy Renck    Wed, 2020-05-27 08:52



The COVID-19 pandemic halted NHRA Mello Yello Series races in mid-March.

Since that time COVID-19 has dealt a devastating blow to the American economy.

Bob Tasca III, a veteran NHRA nitro Funny Car driver and team owner, knows all about the business side of things. Tasca Automotive Group was founded in 1943 by Bob Tasca, Sr. Presently, Tasca Automotive Group operates new vehicle dealerships in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Florida. Their corporate office is in Cranston, Rhode, Island.

“It (COVID-19) has definitely hurt us financially, it has been a very painful process for not just Tasca, but for all of us,” Tasca said. “Like anything else, you live to fight another day and we had to make a lot of changes in our company and our dealerships to get through. We are starting to claw our way out of it. Last month was better than the one before and this month is better than April, so we are optimistic June will be better. I think the worst is behind us.

“I wouldn’t recommend it to people, that’s for sure, but did it change my outlook on my team or racing? Absolutely not. The racing program stands on its own two feet and we need to get back to racing as soon as we can.”

Tasca said racing doesn’t directly benefit his car dealerships but does help his parts business.

“As far as my vehicle business, it doesn’t really help much,” Tasca said. “As much as they love me, people are not going to drive from California to Rhode Island to buy a Ford. I always promote the local Ford dealer in the market, but our parts business, Tascaparts.com, has definitely been helped by the sport of drag racing.”

Tasca is optimistic some sense of normalcy will return to drag racing.

“It’s just a matter of time when hopefully things return to normal,” he said. “The game plan is to go back in August and there are conversations they are doing some stuff in Indy without fans and I’m open to anything. I think like anything else people want to see racing and they want to get back to normal. Drag racing is an outdoor sport with a lot of people all around and I’m optimistic that we are going to get back to racing here shortly.

The first week of (COVID-19) my mind was in survival mode with our businesses. The last three weeks I have been talking to the guys and I can’t wait to get back out there. I kept everybody on the race team on the payroll and we’ve tried to keep everything together. These race cars don’t run by themselves. It takes a team and I’m ready to get everything rolling.”

 

 

 
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