After the NHRA disallowed Bob Tasca III’s second qualifying run in the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway, the Funny Car competitor thought he might be going home, but four-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Steve Torrence came to his rescue.
Tasca said on X that thanks to Torrence and his family he would be racing in the “MissionFoodsUS #2Fast2Tasty Challenge during Q3.”
Tasca wasn’t the only driver who had a qualifying run disqualified on Saturday. The NHRA disqualified five-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson’s third qualifying run. In a statement, the NHRA said Anderson was disqualified due to a “technical violation after bypassing a safety device”. Anderson, the No. 1 qualifier entering Saturday’s activities, also was disqualified from the NHRA Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge” final quad. Six-time Pro Stock champion Erica Enders replaced Anderson in that quad.
Tasca’s future in the Concord, N.C., event was in doubt Saturday after the NHRA issued a statement saying Tasca’s second qualifying run Friday night had been disqualified due to an intake manifold issue. In the statement, the NHRA stated the “intake manifold is not allowed to be altered in any form from its original accepted state.”
“Tasca’s intake manifold was found to have been media blasted and this violation is considered a technical infraction,” the NHRA stated. “Additional penalty may apply after further evaluation. Tasca’s ET from qualifying session one stands.”
Tasca’s ET in his first qualifying run was 7.806 seconds.
In the Saturday morning YouTube show “NHRA Insider Live”, Tasca said the issue didn’t focus on a dimensional change in the manifold, but rather a color change that occurred due to a process used by Wilson Manifolds. He said a dimensional change was “clear cut cheating” because it provided a performance advantage. If that was the case, Tasca said he would own it and move on, but he and the NHRA tech team were disagreeing over the magnesium intake manifold’s color.
“The manufacturer (Alan Johnson) said there’s no dimensional changes. NHRA told me this morning (Saturday) there’s no dimensional changes,” Tasca said on the show. “However, the finish, the color is different. I don’t know how that is a performance advantage, but per their rulebook, it doesn’t have to be a performance advantage. Any modification at all, which is a very slippery slope … it was DNQ because the color was different.”
Tasca said at the season opening event in Gainesville, Fla., he gave all of his manifolds to the NHRA to inspect because there were rumors that he was using illegal manifolds.
“We said we want to make sure there is no drama with any of these manifolds,” Tasca said. “They gave them back to us. They did not tell me I couldn’t run them. But today, they tell me, well, we gave them back to you, but we didn’t tell you they were legal. All of the manifolds in my trailer have been flowed. I don’t have a part to run this race. I’m not going to start taking parts out of the pits and put on my race car that I don’t know what they are and blow up a race car out there going 335 mph. It’s very frustrating as a racer.”
Tasca said that in his opinion the decision seemed to be “a lack of common sense.”
“But it’s their basketball court, it’s their basketball and they have a rulebook that gives them complete discretion on what they want to do,” Tasca said.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.
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