There’s no question Bob Tasca III always wanted to win his hometown race in Epping, N.H.

Tasca finally did just that, but it came it Bristol, Tenn., because the New England Nationals last weekend were rained out and moved to the new venue which was the Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, the next stop on NHRA’s national event circuit.

For the Epping final, Tasca beat legendary John Force.

Tasca clocked a 4.032-second lap at 322.96 mph in his Ford to edge Force’s 4.085-second run at 320.51 mph.

If that wasn’t enough, Tasca also won the Mission #2FAST2TASTY race on Saturday by upending Force.

“It is a win I have always dreamed of at a racetrack that I have so much history with,” said Tasca while holding his Wally for winning Epping, which is near his hometown of Hope, Rhode Island. “Truthfully, it has not been that kind to me. The first five or six races we were the highest average qualified car out here, which is something we worked really hard on over the winter because those are the ETs, you’re going to need to run to make a run for a championship. I was a little nervous because this car is nothing like it was last year. They changed everything.

“You want to know the funny thing I didn’t even realize I won the Mission thing. I’m in the car and I’m so focused on winning this New England race, I forgot all about Mission. By the way, I absolutely love it. Those at Mission who are listening it makes Saturday awesome. You have brought a dynamic to Saturday that is just awesome. It is a special day. Now we have unfinished business for (Sunday).”

During the offseason, Tasca added new crew chiefs Aaron Brooks and Todd Okuhara. He was coming off a fourth-place finish in the points in 2022 and had three wins. Now, he has one win in 2023, which is the 13th national event victory of his NHRA nitro Funny Car career, which began in 2008.

“I’m just so impressed with Todd Okuhara and Aaron Brooks,” Tasca said. “We had to throw down against (back-to-back world champ) Ron Capps on Friday and then we came out (Saturday) and this was the hottest racetrack we have been on all year long. We lost traction early against Robert (Hight) and then I got it to recover and then it grenaded. That’s just the nature of this beast. I’m trying to get it to the finish line, and it wasn’t pretty. It burned up quite a bit of cables and that’s when you see how prepared your team is. They turned that car around, which was amazing and when I went up against Chad Green, who has been one of the hottest drivers, luckiest, you can call him what you want. He has been one of the hottest cars out here.

“Then against John, I went up to him before I got in the car, and I said I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. He’s a huge part of me getting into racing. It is like you get to play against Tiger Woods, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, in your respective profession. To race John Force in the final, maybe he has lost a little bit of his edge, but I can tell you right now at his age to do what he does is incredible. I have so much respect for John.”

Tasca acknowledged Force, who holds an NHRA-record 16 nitro Funny Car world titles, has been quite a teacher for him.

“I have to be honest he has probably taught maybe me more than he should have,” Tasca said. “I just watch him do his whole theatrics up there and he’s as good as anybody. I have been very fortunate because I have had a pretty good winning record against John, but there’s nobody I have more admiration for and respect than him. To have John Force alongside me for the New England Nationals trophy, it is going to be a long time before I forget that win.”

Tasca acknowledged getting back to being an NHRA championship contender has had its share of ups and downs.

“When I see the win light, I think about the guys because you have no idea the effort they put in, particularly this team,” he said. “This whole team was thrown to the street and so was I. My guys didn’t believe in Ford, and they didn’t think Ford was committed and they got a better offer from someone else and as far as I’m concerned if you don’t want to race with me go right ahead. It was me and two of my guys who stayed.

“To be able to bring Todd Okuhara, he was my first phone call by the way. I knew I wanted to race with Todd. He has been special to me going back many years that he always helped me. I just love Aaron (Brooks’) style. He is an aggressive guy. The only thing I can’t predict is the chemistry of crew chiefs. I have had many and some recently where one crew chief said paint the wall pink and he says great I will get right on it. Most of the assistant crew chiefs that is what they do. There’s one crew chief and the other one just does what the other one does. That is not the dynamic with these two guys. I just love listening to them in the trailer, their spirited dialogue back and forth and what they think, and you see the results on how this car runs, hot track, cold track. (Sunday) get ready, when I heard, they were going to have a 10 a.m. (start) I’m like smiling because this racetrack, with those conditions, you’re going to see record-setting runs E1 and then it is going to get really hot. You’re going to see extreme swings in conditions and this team has shown they can run in whatever they throw at us.”

Tasca is now has an impressive 25-14 elimination-round record against Force, including a perfect 5-0 record in final rounds. Tasca won in Bristol in 2019 over Force.

“This place (Bristol) is like a second home to me,” Tasca said. “The first year I came here I walked into the tower and there was a picture of my grandfather’s car in the tower. I said, ‘Wow.’ That’s so cool to know he raced here with Billy Lawton, and I think about them almost every time I get in the car. This is a special place in my family’s history. We have done really well here. We have had multiple No. 1 qualifiers here (in 2011 and 2012) and we have won here, and it was a lot of fun to win this Epping race here. We will try to do it again and take the Thunder Valley trophy (Sunday).”

Tasca qualified fourth for the Thunder Valley Nationals, which will begin at 10 a.m. (ET) Sunday. He faces Mike McIntire in round one.

“When PPG painted this body and we went to (the season-opening race) in Gainesville, I don’t know what they spent and I hope it wasn’t more than they paid me to sponsor this race, but it was a lot of money. The president of PPG is there and I’m in the spray booth with him and I said, ‘Guys you understand, we burn nitro and things don’t end well. Sometimes it goes bad.’ I remember testing and Todd asked if I wanted to throw the PPG body on and make sure it is good because we had not run it. I said Todd, ‘Never.’ Then we blow up (the body) after three runs in Gainesville and we put that black body on it, and we come here, and they didn’t have time to paint it. What people don’t realize, that is one of the first ever painted wraps in drag racing. That is not ink. That is actual paint. That’s a wrap that they wrap the car with because they didn’t have time to paint it. Then, three runs later, I blow it up again.

“We rolled it to the winner’s circle, and we have some winner’s circle photos with it, but yeah I guess you can paint a car and make it beautiful and nitro engines don’t like that.”