Bob Tasca III knows he has a team capable of winning the NHRA Camping World nitro Funny Car world championship.

His team has had some early-season struggles but he believes it is turning the corner after back-to-back semifinal round performances at the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals May 1 in Charlotte, N.C., and the Virginia NHRA Nationals in Richmond on May 15. Tasca is sixth in the points standings – just 41 points behind fifth place Cruz Pedregon.

“From where we started to where we ended in Richmond, we were pretty happy,” Tasca said. “We had back-to-back semifinal efforts at the Four-Wide and Richmond and the car is definitely running better early which is something we have have really been focusing on. Our car has run great speed all year, but it hasn’t run as hard early as we needed it to.

We did find something wrong with the clutch on Saturday night (May 14) in Richmond which we think could have been plaguing us, truthfully all season, and it was getting progressively worse. The bottom line is the car went out and ran (May 15) the way it should run. We had a car that could have won that race and if we can just continue this momentum into Epping, I feel really really excited.”

In Richmond, Tasca beat Alexis DeJoria and Blake Alexander before losing to eventual race champion Robert Hight in the semis.

Up next for Tasca and his fellow NHRA competitors is the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, N.H., June 3-5. This is an event that holds special meaning for Tasca since it is his hometown track just under two hours from his residence in Cranston, Rhode, Island.

The Tasca family is being inducted into the New England Dragway Hall of Fame June 4.

“That’s really cool,” Tasca said about the induction. “They have a rock out there with a plaque with all the inductees. It is a special place for me to go to.”

Tasca will arrive in Epping with a 6-7 elimination round record, but he said those numbers are somewhat misleading. Tasca finished a career-best third in the 2021 NHRA nitro Funny Car points standings.

“Strategically last year, I think we led the points for the bulk of the regular season, and we literally ran out of parts going into the (six-race) Countdown,” Tasca said. “Clutch parts, just the clutches we wanted to run, and we are taking a little different strategy this year. We are definitely setting ourselves up for a big run in the Countdown. Truth to be told, if you’re in the top five or six and Robert (Hight, won it being 10th), that’s what matters to win the championship. We are really taking a little different approach, I will not call it testing, but we have definitely tested more than we ever have early in the season. and I think you are going to see it come together.

Clearly, we want to go into Epping and put our best foot forward to win that race. Based on the progress we have made these last couple of races I would not bet against us. We are going to dig deep for this one and see if we can get her in the winner’s circle.”

Although Epping is Tasca’s hometown track, he’s keeping things in perspective.

“There’s zero more pressure,” Tasca said. “There’s pressure no matter where you race in the country. It’s more meaningful, clearly. If you can win your hometown race with a lot of people who are coming up to see you run, that’s pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I have not had much homecourt advantage (with a nitro Funny Car). I have won in every car I have ever raced in there except my nitro car. For whatever reason it has not been that kind to me (in the nitro Funny Car). I’m going to be very nice when I arrive on Friday (June 3) and maybe it will give me a little bit of love. It is definitely homecourt for me and nothing more than I would like to hold up a New England Wally and that’s what we are certainly going to try and do.”

New England Dragway opened in 1966 and has a rich history with the Tasca family, including Bob.

“I have so many memories from Epping,” Tasca II said. “It was the first track I ever went down in a kid in a 1992 Mustang. I didn’t even know how to pop the clutch at the time. That right lane, I will never forget that run. I have had so many memories there. Roy Hill came up and broke me in with Pro Stock cars at that track. I learned how to drive those things. We had Tasca Days at the track that we sponsored before I started running professionally.

We ran a nitrous Mercury Capri that competed there. That was probably to this day the most dangerous car I have ever driven. That was a nitrous Capri, just a crazy car. It was an Outlaw car that we ran some Outlaw races in that car in the early 2000s before I went racing in my alcohol Funny Car. Every memory I have early on in racing was at that track. My grandfather was there, it is a special place for our family.”