The day started and ended with racing a friend for Bob Tasca III at
Atlanta Dragway. The driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang
earned himself a spot in his first semi-final of his nitro Funny Car
career after facing best friend Tony Pedregon in the first round, Gary
Densham in the second round, and mentor and hero, John Force, in the
third round of the NHRA Southern Nationals.
“To run Tony Pedregon and John Force and make it into the semi-finals
with this new team, is just really, really tremendous,” said Tasca.
“But we come to every race wanting to win, so when you don’t, you’re
disappointed. But when you look back at our program that we just
started in November, and to move into the 11th position coming out of
this race is just great for the team and my sponsors. After today, we
believe now, more than ever, that we can win.”
Tasca’s semi-final round against Force was the closest round he ran all
weekend, with both drivers having identical reaction times, but with
Force having an edge on time by .003 of a second.