Tasca III to the Top! « DragRaceCanada.com

Tasca III to the Top!

by editor on Jun.17, 2019, under National News

A determined racer ends a long drought within NHRA’s fuel FC wars…..Bob Tasca III powered to his first Funny Car win in nearly seven years, knocking off John Force in the final round for the 19th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

Mike Salinas also picked up the victory in Top Fuel at the 11th of 24 events during the 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. Both Salinas and Tasca advanced to the final round in Bristol a year ago before falling, but it was a different story for each driver in 2019.

Tasca, who last won late in the 2012 season, denied Force his 150th career win, going 4.008-seconds at 316.23 mph in his Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang to beat Force’s 4.155 at 287.05 and claim his fifth career win and first in 100 races.

A rejunivated Bob Tasca III ended a long winless drought by winning in Fuel FC at Bristol Dragway last weekend.

Tasca, who qualified third, beat James Campbell, Robert Hight and back-to-back Bristol winner Ron Capps, who beat Tasca in the final round a year ago, to reach his 13th career final round.

“It was just a hard-fought effort,” said Tasca, who improved to ninth in Funny Car points. “I knew it would be a slugfest against Force, but I love racing John. It was probably one of the biggest wins in my career. We had to build this car from scratch, but the chemistry on this team is good and I’ve never had a race car like this. It’s fast and the guys put me in a position to win. I love racing here. There’s so much history with my family racing in Thunder Valley and I really wanted to win this one. It was just a great day.”

Force knocked off Jack Beckman and Tommy Johnson Jr. to reach his 252nd final round, but he will now have to wait until next weekend in Norwalk to try and get his 150th career win.

In Top Fuel, Salinas snapped the five-race winning streak of points leader and defending world champion Steve Torrence thanks to a final-round pass of 3.836 at 325.69 in his Scrappers Racing dragster. Torrence, who had won 22 straight rounds before Sunday’s loss in the finals, went 3.892 at 287.60, slowing at the finish line.

With his seasoned tuner Alan Johnson — Mike Salinas — scored his 2nd NHRA Top Fuel victory.

After winning his first career Top Fuel race earlier this year at Las Vegas, Salinas picked up round wins against Scott Palmer, Antron Brown and No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta on Sunday en route to his second career win.

“It’s kind of surreal what is happening,” said Salinas, who jumped to third in Top Fuel points. “The guys are amazing, they’re doing a great job and we’re having a lot of fun. You can’t take anybody lightly out here. I have all the confidence in this team and it’s just amazing to be in the seat with these guys. Alan Johnson and the crew, they just know how to do it and it’s just amazing, it really is.”

Torrence, who maintains a commanding points lead, reached his 48th career final round thanks to wins against Pat Dakin, Clay Millican and Dom Lagana.

The Mello Yello Drag Racing series continues at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, June 20-23 at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

Puerto Rican Knockout!

Despite just slipping into the field as the No. 16 qualifier, Puerto Rico-native Jose Gonzalez raced to his first win of the year during E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service action at Bristol Dragway.

Gonzalez went 5.848-seconds at 256.06 mph in his turbocharged Q80 Racing Camaro to knock off Bob Rahaim, who ran 5.914 at 238.72 in his nitrous-powered Camaro. It is the second career win for Gonzalez, who qualified 16th before picking up round wins against No. 1 qualifier Todd Tutterow, Brandon Snider and Erica Enders to reach his fourth career final round.

Caribbean-based racer Jose Gondolez wheeled his turbocharged Camaro to victory in Pro Mod.

“I honestly didn’t think we were going to make it into the field and here we are in the winner’s circle from the No. 16 spot,” said Gonzalez, who moved to fourth in points. “This Q80 Racing team really works their butts off and they have given me this car I have complete trust in every time I go down the track. I knew if I could just get into the field I could make it happen and here we are.”

Rahaim, who qualified 14th, reached his sixth career final round in the class with wins against defending world champion Mike Janis, Khalid AlBalooshi and Sidnei Frigo. Stevie “Fast” Jackson maintains the points lead as the class started the second half of its 2019 season in Bristol.

The E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service continues at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, June 20-23 at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

PS Experiment Continues

NHRA’s cool 2019 demonstration eliminator with Mountain Motor Pro Stock class cars continued — with it’s 3rd of 4 scheduled races this season being part of the Bristol event program.

That event was won by Todd Hoerner who drove his Chevy Camaro past Frank Gugliotta in the final round. Hoerner, who is from Virginia, ran a winning 6.425 secs at 219.36 mph to take the title.

Todd Hoerner won the Mountain Motor Pro Stock feature.

Hoerner had qualified his 2012 model Camaro #2 (6.346 secs) and had defeated Steven Boone and Elijah Morton in earlier rounds.

The event’s quickest and fastest MMPS car was John DeFlorian Jr., who qualified #1 for the 8 car field with a stout 6.345 secs at 221.82 mph.

Defending World Champion Tii Tharpe won the Top Fuel Harley eliminator when he bested Bob Malloy in that championship round. That final was in fact a rematch of the TFH final round from the weekend before at held at the Heartland Nationals (Topkea KS), with the same ending.

Tharpe, who is based from North Carolina beat Doug Vancil and Beau Layne in rounds one and two. It was his 9th career NHRA event win.

Defending NHRA Champ Tii Tharpe won his second race of 2019 in Top Fuel Harley.

Jay Turner set low ET for the breed when he qualified #1 (6.319 secs) and Canadian Mike Scott was credited with top MPH when he roared to a 228.04 terminal speed.

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