Bob Tasca left no doubt about his intentions as he headed into the final round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on Saturday at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. It wasn’t just about racing against his three fellow competitors; it was about something deeper.

Following a contentious disqualification Friday, attributed to an intake manifold deemed illegal by the NHRA Tech Department, Tasca found himself feeling personally slighted by the decision. In response, he vowed to overcome the controversial decision, not just for himself, but for his dedicated crew chiefs who work tirelessly behind the scenes.

The outcome? Another triumph in the four-wide format, coupled with the fastest run ever recorded at zMAX Dragway.

“I was as pissed off as I have ever been,” said Tasca of the disqualification. “I was not racing the other guys in the other lane. I was racing the NHRA, and racing for the integrity and reputation of my crew chiefs.”

After his 3.849 pass from round two of qualifying on Friday night was thrown out due to the disqualification, Tasca bounced back with two stellar laps on Saturday. His performance peaked with a record-setting run in the final round of the specialty race-within-a-race.

In the final foursome of the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, Tasca piloted his Ford Performance Mustang Funny Car to a blistering 3.834-second pass at 338.34 mph – the 10th fastest time in NHRA history – to collect the win over contenders Austin Prock, J.R. Todd and Paul Lee. 

Additionally, the lap placed Tasca second on the qualifying ladder behind John Force – the same position he held Friday night before his time was disallowed.

“A vindication for two of the hardest-working, most-diligent people I’ve ever been around in my life,” Tasca said of crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Aaron Brooks. “This was for them. The 338 miles per hour with (a 3.83), it just goes to show you that the hard work that they put in and the attention to detail pays off. It’s got nothing to do with the color of a manifold. It’s all BS really. It’s just noise. If you let it affect your thinking, your attitude, they win and we lose. That’s the bottom line.”

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Tasca had laps of 3.894 and 3.834 on Saturday to advance and earn the speciality race win. He was also able to reclaim the second spot on the Funny Car ladder behind John Force’s career-best 3.820 from Friday. Austin Prock qualified third with a 3.852, followed by Alexis DeJoria (3.859) and Ron Capps (3.877). But the real highlight from a busy Saturday was the 338.34 mph put up on the scoreboards by Tasca.

“It was a fun ride,” Tasca said with a laugh. “On the ride side of it, that thing was out of control leaving. It was moving around, and I don’t know if I have driven a car that much to 300 feet in a long time. Then, once it got to 300 feet, it settled down and locked in. But it was a fun ride. I did some driving, and these guys did some tuning, and we came up on the winning side.” 

At the heart of Saturday’s controversy was the heart of the engine on Tasca’s 11,000-horsepower Ford Mustang Funny Car. Earlier that morning, Tasca’s qualifying run from Friday was thrown out after his car’s intake manifold was found to have been media blasted, according to a statement from the NHRA. The statement went on to say that the violation is considered a technical infraction, as that part is not allowed to be altered in any form.

According to Tasca, last week’s four-wide winner at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he moved to parts from Alan Johnson Performance Engineering this season, and the change in color at the crux of the argument came during testing. Additionally, Tasca claimed that no performance advantage was gained from the highlighted rules violation.

“We walked into a buzzsaw this morning. I was very disappointed with how NHRA handled it,” Tasca said. “But it was a good day for our team. It started out pretty tough, but at the end of the day, we focused on what we needed to do and we accomplished the mission today.”

Faced with the very real possibility of missing the remainder of the weekend after the disqualification of parts left Tasca without a “legal” part to utilize this weekend, Tasca received help from former Top Fuel racer Steve Torrence. The four-time NHRA champion said that he approached Tasca’s team early Saturday and offered any parts and assistance needed to keep the team in competition.  

“A special thanks to the Torrence family because I was going to pack my stuff up and leave,” Tasca said. “I don’t have a manifold per NHRA’s standard that’s legal, and I wasn’t going to take one out of a box that had never been run and try to guess.

“Steve Torrence took one off of his race car – literally off of his race car – and brought it into our pit. The first run we dropped the hole at 700 feet, and then the second run these guys were focused on getting this car right for that final round. 

“I’m not going to go ask somebody to take a part off their car, so for them to come over and do what they did for us on that first run? Steve and Billy (Torrence) grabbed me and said, ‘This is BS. I want you to know there isn’t a part in these trailers that isn’t yours.’ Then we took it, bolted it on our car, and did everything that we did today.”

With Saturday’s success, Tasca was clear in his message to the entire garage, the fans, and especially the NHRA that this team is here to compete with honor.   

“This is a vindication for Aaron and Todd,” Tasca said. “We don’t condone cheating. There was absolutely zero performance advantage on the manifold from Alan Johnson, who has a pretty good reputation in the sport. Alan was very clear with NHRA, he vehemently disagreed with their decision.

“I’m just happy for Todd and Aaron because it is their reputation on the line. This team is a dangerous team. If we get the right conditions, and with Todd and Aaron locked in, you’ve got to be on your A-game to beat us.”