Bob Tasca, III was Bob Tasca the FIRST on this Sunday.

Tasca scored his first national event win at a track that holds a
special place in his heart. It was in Gainesville where Tasca came to
the attention of Ford based on his performance at Gainesville Raceway.

“To come here, at a race track that is really close to my heart,”
started Tasca, “you know that right lane has been really awfully good
to me, I might even kiss it before I leave. I set the world record in
alcohol funny car in that lane and I won my first race in that lane. It
was a pretty special day for me.”

There comes a point and time when a racer must abandon
innovation for the proven. Funny Car racer Tim Wilkerson had reached
that point when it came to chasing a set-up for his new 2009 three-rail
chassis, before Gainesville.

Three good qualifying laps, two good elimination rounds, and a
competitive race car all added up to a positive step forward, and
Wilkerson now looks ahead with a slightly improved outlook.

The following story is proof of the volatility
of Full Throttle Energy Drink and the high intensity of 14-time NHRA
Funny Car champion John Force.

Force was so over-amped that top-end announcer Alan Reinhart instructed
the top-end crew not to provide any more Full Throttle for the champion.

His first round interview left those in the media center scratching
their heads when he told five stories in 30 seconds. That opening
interview paled in comparison to his second interview of the day.

Jeg Coughlin Jr.’s Chevrolet Cobalt shook the tires, and then turned
sideways during final eliminations at the NHRA Gatornationals forcing him to abort his quarter-final match against Allen
Johnson.

"We got what we needed at the tree and it could have been a close one
at the other end but we didn't get it done today," Coughlin said. "We
win as a team and we go down together. I know there are a lot of
champions in this group so we'll get together and fix what we need to
fix and get after it again in Houston.

He didn’t win the event. The luck just ran out.

Cory McClenathan made a withdrawal from the luck bank, landing in his
54th career final round and the first at the NHRA Gatornationals
despite experiencing two spectacular fireballs in the FRAM Top Fuel
dragster in his quarterfinal and semifinal runs. He ended his day as
runner-up to Larry Dixon.

"We have nothing to complain about today," said McClenathan. "As a
racer you see a lot of times where somebody else had the luck. Well,
today, we did well against our teammate and won the round and hurt some
parts. That semifinal run was pure luck. We hurt it early and Bobby
Lagana had a shot of beating us. We almost beat ourselves there, but
the FRAM guys reeled in, did what they could for the final round.

Despite his early exit in the opening round of Funny Car eliminations
at the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, Ron Capps continues
to lead the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series class point standings
driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger. He is now 38 markers ahead
of Bob Tasca III, winner of the third event on the 24-race tour.

Mike Castellana proved that there is parity in Pro Mod for the nitrous
cars with his win in the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge presented by ProCare Rx at the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.
 
Castellana qualified No. 8 with a 6.042/232.19 and worked his way past
reigning IHRA champ Kenny Lang in the first round, low qualifier Roger
Burgess in round two, and the turbo-powered  '68 Camaro of Brad
Personett in the semi-finals to face off against Al-Anabi teammate and
fellow-member of the nitrous brotherhood Burton Auxier for the finals.
 
Auxier had delivered consistent 6.0-performances en route to his finals
berth, dispatching Danny Rowe, Rickey Smith and Rick Stivers to make
the finals, but struggled in the end. Castellana cut a near-perfect
.008 light to take the lead and never looked back, 6.040/228.77 to
6.174/229.12.
 
"I'm really happy for the entire Al-Anabi team and how well everyone
performed today," Castellana said. "To have a semi-final where we've
got two nitrous cars, a turbo and one blower car really shows how far
we've come in the past several years.

Hector Arana is a racer who never let the odds discourage him.

The Pro Stock Motorcycle rider from Milltown, Ind., raced for 18 seasons and 149 races before he won his first trophy.

Amidst an off-season where many of the experts said the Buell
combination didn’t stand a chance against the new engine combinations
of Harley-Davidson and Suzuki, Arana not only proved them wrong at the
Pro Stock Motorcycle season-opener in Gainesville, Fla., he did so with
an exclamation point.

Jason Line always prefers to win. He just prefers some methods over others.

The former Pro Stock world champion from Troutman, N.C., beat Mopar
front-runner Allen Johnson on a holeshot to win the NHRA ACDelco
Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., for the second time since 2008.

Winning on a hole shot doesn’t leave the technically oriented Line with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

“The driver side of me is happy that I won on a hole shot but the
engine builder side of me is upset that I had to win on a hole shot,”
Line admitted. “We struggled all weekend and Mike Edwards made us look
bad all weekend.”

Bob Tasca completed a dream weekend Sunday by racing to his first career victory at the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals.

Larry
Dixon, Jason Line and Hector Arana also were winners at the NHRA Full
Throttle Drag Racing Series event at historic Gainesville Raceway.

Tasca,
who earned his first No. 1 qualifying position on Saturday, finished
the job Sunday by powering his Motorcraft Quick Lane Ford Shelby
Mustang to a final-round performance of 4.200 seconds at 280.72 mph to
hold off defending Gatornationals winner Tony Pedregon, whose Q
Horsepower Chevy Impala trailed with a 4.536 at 210.90.

“I’m speechless,” said Tasca, who defeated Jim Head, Tim Wilkerson and John Force to advance to the final round.