01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Tasca is back on track

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski

The 2007 Shelby Mustang Funny Car driven by Bob Tasca III makes 3,500 hp and can get to 210 mph in 3.7 seconds. This shot shows the lightweight body propped up.

It's called Funny Car racing, but it's serious stuff to the Tasca family.

And now, two famous names are back in auto racing, combining forces for the first time in a link they hope will put their efforts at full throttle.

AAA has returned to sponsorship after an absence of 51 years, and Tasca, synonymous with Ford and racing, is mounting a team for the first time since 1965. And, in another first, a Tasca is behind the wheel.

Bob Tasca III is driving the 2007 Shelby Mustang Top Alcohol Funny Car in the National Hot Rod Association Powerade drag racing series. Tasca, 30, vice president of Tasca Group, has been racing since he was 16, but this is his first attempt on the pro circuit. And he has quickly scored two big successes.

"We've already made quite a statement to the whole Funny Car world," he said. "We were prominent in two national events. Normally it takes teams five years to do that."

In the initial race of the season in Gainsville, Fla., Tasca reached the semifinals and beat veteran racer Frank Manzo of New Jersey in the quarterfinal round.

Last month Tasca was edged out in the final elimination round at Englishtown, N.J., by top qualifier Manzo, for whom Englishtown is his home track. The competitors had identical elapsed times, but Manzo had a quicker reaction time, .049 seconds off the starting line to Tasca's .079.

"In drag racing it all comes down to the driver's ability to react when the light turns green," Tasca said.

It also helps to have a good car, and the Mustang makes 3,500 hp and can get to 100 mph in .8 of a second. "We've got a real fast car and it's running well," Tasca says. "This year, we picked eight races to compete in, and next year we'll make a run for the championship." Three of the races are national events, and two are divisional races that qualify for the nationals. And on Sept. 30 there is a match race at New England Dragway in Epping, N.H., at the annual Mustang shootout sponsored by Tasca with some 300 Mustangs in attendance.

At Englishtown, with the new engine supplied by John Force Racing and the new body with prominent AAA markings, the whole Tasca family was on hand. "My dad comes to every race, and my grandfather to every national event," Tasca said. "My dad's generation grew up in racing and pioneered Funny Cars." The term Funny Cars comes from the odd shape of the bodies, contoured to take advantage of every racing nuance. Tasca's Mustang doesn't look like the street version.

And this is where modern drag racing differs from the way it was 40 years ago when Bob Tasca Sr. made a name for the dealership, and Rhode Island. "In today's day and age we don't race cars that we sell," Tasca III explained. Back then, the senior Tasca coined the term "win on Sunday, sell on Monday."

You can't buy a street version of Tasca's Top Alcohol car, but you can get a high-performance Mustang or a GT 500. "And we do a lot of performance upgrades to Mustangs," Tasca said. "Racing helps us from an advertising- business standpoint. We form strategic relationships with companies like AAA, and Quick Lane [a Ford auto service center chain]. There's a lot of synergy."

But it takes a lot of money to field a team, and that's where the sponsorships come in. "I call it starting line money," Tasca says. AAA's Southern California club sponsors John Force's Top Fuel team and, nationally, AAA is behind Mark Martin's No. 6 Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

"It's more of a partnership than a sponsorship," said Bob Murray, vice president of corporate affairs for AAA of Southern New England. "This came about because of a longtime friendship with the Tasca family." AAA came on board after Tasca's Gainsville showing, just in time to get its logo prominently painted on the new body.

Force partnered with the Tascas after he walked into their showroom in 1996 looking to buy a sport utility vehicle. He has brought them 13 NHRA Funny Car championships. His engine builder, Randy Anderson, helps out the Tasca team headed by Ralph Poirier, one of the original Tasca Racing Team members, which included the late Bill Lawton, and John Healey, Dean Gregson, John Pagano and Bill Gilbert, all of whom are local legends.

Force and his family are featured in Driving Force, a reality TV series Mondays at 9 on the A&E network.

Poirier, who has been racing for some 50 years, is aided by Chris Silvia, his right-hand man and the body man, and Pete St. Germain, Dennis Gomez, John Griswold and Kenny Martins.

While Bob Tasca III has a strong pedigree of racing experts behind the scenes, he is the front man in more ways than one. He is heavily involved in the day-to-day running of the Tasca Group in Cranston and Seekonk, and is the first Tasca to get behind the wheel on the track. His grandfather, who was more the mechanic, had Lawton to do his driving.

The younger Tasca has been driving a Funny Car for a year and a half. "I spent some time at driving school learning the car," he said.

Tasca said "the driver plays more of an instrumental role on the marketing and PR side of it." But there are drawbacks. "I used to race for fun, but as soon as you start taking money the fun's over," he said.

The Tasca-AAA effort is in the infant stages, and the pressure, much of it self-induced, is to become a winner in a short period of time. But this is a family sport, for the Tascas and the fans. "It's exciting to rekindle an old flame," Tasca says.

YOU CAN SEE a slideshow of Bob Tasca III's Shelby Mustang Funnycar at www.projo.com/projocars/slideshows/2006/funnycars/

For more information, go to NHRA.com

Auto Biography is a new feature that tells an interesting story about a car and its driver. If you think you have a newsworthy story to tell about your car, write to Auto Biography, Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St. Providence RI 02902 or e-mail projocars@projo.com. Be sure to put "Auto Biography" in the subject field.

The car doesn't have to be a classic or expensive, but it should be somehow unique. The driver must be willing to be interviewed by a reporter about what makes this car special and to be photographed with the car.

ABOUT THE CAR The 2007 Shelby Mustang Funny Car driven by Bob Tasca III makes 3,500 hp and can get to 210 mph in 3.7 seconds. It weighs 2,275 pounds and runs on straight alcohol, as regulated for its class by the National Hot Rod Association.

At full throttle, the engine burns a gallon of fuel a second. "It's very high maintenance," says crew chief Ralph Poirier.

It has a three-speed manual transmission. "You leave the line in low gear, shift to second at 2.5 seconds and into high at 3.7 seconds," Tasca says.

The body, by race car builder Harry Glass of Jacksonville, Fla., is made of carbon fiber and weighs 100 pounds, 160 pounds lighter than the old body.

For the Top Alcohol Funny Car class, the NHRA restricts engine size to 521 cubic inches, weight to 2,275, regulates the blower (supercharger) and mandates that there can be no fuel additives.

Tasca to run in 3 more East Coast events Bob Tasca III will drive in three more East Coast national NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car events this season.

He plans to drive his Shelby Mustang in the Mac Tools event -- called the world's most prestigious drag race -- at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind., Aug. 30-Sept. 4. He will also drive in the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pa., Sept. 14-17, and in the Torco Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park in Petersurg, Va., near Richmond, Oct. 6-8.

He has competed in three races thus far, the ACDelco Gatornationals in Gainsville, Fla., last March and in a Lucas Oil divisional race at Virginia Motorsports Park last weekend. These are in addition to the second-place finish at the K&N Filters SuperNationals in Englishtown, N.J., in June (See main story).

Tasca missed a race in Lebanon Valley, Pa., recently because his wife, Therase, gave birth to their third son, Cameron.

He is associated with John Force, a 13-time world champion who helps with the Tasca-AAA Mustang he drives, but he doesn't compete against Force. "Alcohol racing is a step below John's [Top Fuel] class," he says.

The national events are carried on ESPN2, though usually on a time delay. Check the cable grid.