Bob Tasca III is picking up momentum in the heat of the summer.

A week after a runner-up finish in Richmond, Va., Tasca finished the deal by winning the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, on Sunday.

Tasca clocked a 3.908-second elapsed time at 330.47 mph to defeat Ron Capps, who slowed to 6.966 seconds after smoking the tires.

“Hey, listen, hat's off to (crew chiefs) Todd Okuhara and Aaron Brooks. Leaving Bristol (Tenn.), we were pretty disappointed. We actually have the go-slow setup on the car,” Tasca said. “Leaving Bristol, we just decided, ‘We're taking all the fast stuff off, put all the go-slow stuff on,’ and we just got to get back to going down the racetrack, period. It's hard to do for those guys because they're about as aggressive guys that I've ever seen. I'm an aggressive guy, but we have to go down the racetrack. I think we're like 14 out of 15 runs now, since Bristol, going down the racetrack. And that's what it takes to win.

“They just did an incredible job this weekend. Friday, Saturday were some of the more challenging conditions that we've ever seen, and the car runs 88, 88, 89, like a bracket car. Then, we come out (Sunday morning), I said, ‘Man.’ I said, "Guys, really? Eighty-five in the first run at like 336? Really? You guys, have you lost your mind?’ He goes, ‘Well, you gave us the go-slow stuff. We got to figure out how to make this go fast.’"    

This was Tasca’s 17th career NHRA nitro Funny Car win and fifth since the start of the 2023 season. A year ago, Tasca finished third in the final points standings, 17 points behind world champion Hagan. 

Tasca, who qualified No. 4, with a 3.882-second elapsed time, defeated Dave Richards, Paul Lee, Austin Prock and then Capps to claim the race win in his Ford Mustang.

“That actually scared me a little bit,” Tasca said when the crew chiefs said they wanted to make the go-slow stuff go fast. “Then, second round was a strong run against Paul Lee and then against Prock, we were not happy about losing Saturday night, and we got it done. It was a little bit of me and a whole lot of them, and we won that round. Then you go against Capps, and we knew he could run 88. We probably figured he was going to try to take a swing at us. We call it getting picked off, where you just small-ball it and somebody picks you off. And we went up there loaded pretty good.

“We could look at the runs. I think it might've put a hole out. It put a hole out because I felt it nose over. It put a hole out on the 336-mph run, and it leaned over, and I said, ‘Oh, no.’ We got the win. I obviously didn't know he smoked the tires. But just hats off to those guys. They're really a special group.” 

This is Tasca’s second career win in Norwalk in nitro Funny Car; his first was in 2019.

And he was thinking about the legendary John Force when he won Sunday. Force, the 16-time NHRA nitro Funny Car world champion, is recovering in Richmond, Va., hospital after a fiery crash in a first-round win over Terry Haddock on June 23.   

“Yeah. It's tough. He's a pretty incredible person to me personally and don't know if I want to be out here without him, to be honest with you. He doesn't have to be in a car. He's just been an inspiration to me and my family. Just want him to get better,” Tasca said.

Tasca arrived in Norwalk – the 10th race on the schedule – fifth in the points standings on the strength of his win at the Four Wide Nationals in Las Vegas on April 14.

“Well, we lost the championship by 17 points. Can't get any closer than that, right?” Tasca said, “So we know we have whatever, everything we need to go compete and run for a championship. You take Austin Prock, a great driver, and you put him in a car that has been as dominant as any car over the last decade. Not a year, the last decade. And what do you get? You get a great car. So, they got 5,000 runs. We have probably about 300 runs on our setup. We're just fighting. We're just fighting, doing the best we can, battling, making changes. People in the sport I don't even think would believe some of the shit these guys have changed. From a 341 mph (in Bradenton, Fla., in February) run to a setup that was even faster that we just couldn't get to go down a racetrack that had any temperature in it at all, back to another setup that is in between them to get through the summer so we can go back to the fall and then go try to tear their heads off.”  

Tasca was quick to credit tuners for getting him headed in the right direction to make a run at a world championship. 

“It's unbelievable what Todd and Aaron have been able to put together,” Tasca said. “You see it out here. I'm not surprised when Prock goes out and runs unbelievable. That's what we expect him to do. But to see what this Ford Performance car runs and the limited time that Aaron and Todd have been together… The first time they ever worked together was the last year and a half; pretty impressive. So, the best is yet to come for this team. We're still learning, we're still testing, we're still dialing up our setup, but I like our chances. If you're going to bet against me, well, I don't know if I'd bet against this team right now.”

Sunday was a special day for Tasca as it was his son Cameron’s 18th birthday.

“There's no pressure. My son wakes up. We had two birthday cakes for him last night,” Tasca said. “I didn't immediately wish him a Happy Birthday this morning. He said, ‘Dad...’ I called my wife, and she says, ‘You forgot to wish Cameron a Happy Birthday.’ I said, ‘No, I didn't. It took me maybe three minutes in the ride here.’ And he said, ‘Dad, I want a Wally for my birthday.’ I said, ‘Well, no pressure, Cam.’ But yeah, 18th birthday. I'm going to definitely get him a Wally. And Cam, Happy Birthday.”

Combine Force’s absence, a new tune-up and his son’s birthday, and Sunday’s win will be one Tasca remembers for years to come.

“It's a special one. You don't realize how hard it is to win. It's hard. It's harder than anyone gives it credit for,” he said. “There are 1,000 things out of your control that have to go your way to win. And one goes wrong, you lose. So, all these wins are hard fought and special. But this weekend, for me, to be able to stand in front of that camera and talk to Force and his family, which I know they'll be watching, meant everything to me. And to give this kid a trophy for his birthday, and this way he doesn't have to aggravate me anymore. That meant a lot, too. But, no, this is a special one.

“This is a special place. I've won here three times. One in my Outlaw car, twice in the fuel car. I've been in the finals I think a couple more times. I know I got whipped a few years back by Cruz. I didn't forget that. But this is a great place to race. The passion, the fans. Bader is one of the best all-time track promoters, so it's a fun place to come.”

Now, the schedule switches to the West Coast with the NHRA Northwest Nationals July 19-21 in Seattle.

“I've said the season breaks into three parts. It's always been this way. It's the first five or six races when the conditions are thrown down and the real performers, you can tell. The guys that can run mid, low 80s and those that can't,” Tasca said. “Then you've got to survive the summer which, for us, looked ugly, quite frankly, until we made some changes. You've got to survive the summer because you don't want to go into the Countdown (to the Championship, the final six races of the season) seventh or eighth and know that you have a car that can run 3.80 in the Countdown. Well, that doesn’t help you.

“Then you get to the Countdown and if you can't run low 80s consistently, mid 80s consistently, you're probably not going to win the championship. That's just the harsh reality of it. I've been there, trust me. And we have a car that has now proven that to the field. We can run the low 80s, 340 mph and we can run in the heat now, which, look out because we couldn't do that a few races ago. Then when the conditions get good, trust me, we'll know how to go back to those go-fast setups.”