At 341.68 mph, the World’s Fastest Mustang Is Also the World’s Fastest Dragster

April 17 marked sixty years since the Ford Mustang’s public debut at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The original pony car immediately became a pop-culture and automotive phenom, and it remains one of the most impactful cars in history. Click here to follow along with our multi-week 60 Years of Mustang coverage. -Ed.

The world’s fastest Mustang lined up on the far left at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, one of two drag strips in the country configured to race four cars at once. Besides Bob Tasca’s Ford, there was Austin Prock’s Chevrolet, Matt Hagan’s Dodge, and Ron Capps’ Toyota—every brand that races in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car class.

For Tasca, it was a point of honor to beat the other three manufacturers. Tasca Automotive Group was founded in 1943 by Bob Tasca, Sr., and in 1953 he opened the original Tasca Ford in Bristol, Rhode Island. Just one year later, this dealership was destroyed by Hurricane Carol. Bob Sr. ultimately opened up the new Tasca Ford in East Providence, Rhode Island.

It was here in the 1960s that Bob Sr. and his team became the second largest Ford dealership in the world. This was also the birthplace of the Tasca Racing program and multiple historic muscle cars such as the Ford Cobra Jet, the Tasca Street Boss, and the Mystery race cars. Bob Tasca III carries on the Ford racing tradition, working at the family dealership when he isn’t at the track.

On the afternoon of April 14, those four cars lined up on The Strip. The starting lights flashed, and Tasca was off first, with a 0.34-second reaction time. Even though his top speed of 329.75 mph was only second-quickest to Capps’ 333.00, his quick reaction time was enough to get Tasca’s Mustang to the finish line first. It was Tasca’s first win of 2024.

“When you put together a final round where there’s one Ford, one Dodge, one Toyota, one Chevy, that is why we do it,” Tasca said. “It’s the only reason we come out here to win for all our Ford fans all around the world. That’s going to go down as one of the best final rounds in Funny Car history.”

But it wasn’t in NHRA competition where Tasca earned the honorary “world’s fastest Mustang” title. Since Tasca’s 341.68 mph record run didn’t come at an NHRA event, the sanctioning body still recognizes Robert Hight’s 339.87 mph mark, set at Sonoma Raceway in 2017, driving a Chevrolet Camaro SS.

Where Tasca made history was at Bradenton Motorsports Park, located in Manatee County, Florida, about an hour south of Tampa. Founded in 1974, it’s a quarter-mile asphalt drag strip and considered one of the nicest, most competitive grassroots strips in the country.

Though it may not host any major NHRA races, the Bradenton track held the inaugural PRO Superstar Shootout last February 8–10, an independent competition with a $1.3 million purse, making it the richest drag racing event in history.

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As you would expect, the three-day show attracted the top professional drag racers in the country, including regulars on the NHRA circuit in the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes, which race from a standing start to 1000 feet. With speeds well over 300 mph, the Top Fuel and Funny Cars used to race the full quarter-mile—1320 feet—but some drag strips don’t have enough real estate in the shut-down area for the cars to come to a safe stop.

The official distance was shortened to 1000 feet in 2008, following the death of racer Scott Kalitta after his engine blew during a qualifying run in Englishtown, New Jersey. His Toyota Solara Funny Car’s twin parachutes were damaged by the explosion, and Kalitta’s car vaulted a concrete retaining wall at the end of the strip and hit a steel post, and then a piece of heavy equipment. Kalitta, 46, died as the result of blunt trauma injuries.

It was thought at the time that trimming the competition distance by 320 feet likely meant that Top Fuel and Funny Car records would be frozen, as it would be impossible to go faster in 1000 feet than the cars had gone in 1320. That logic sold short the ingenuity of drag racing crew chiefs and Goodyear, and many major quarter-mile records have been eclipsed by runs on 1000-foot tracks. That includes the world’s fastest Mustang.

Which brings us back to Bradenton.

A perfect run for a nitro-powered Top Fuel or Funny Car is dependent on so many factors: Track preparation, temperature, dew point, prevailing wind, and, of course, the driver’s ability to launch the 12,000-horsepower car and keep it in the dead center of the lane. Worth noting is that the record is for “wheel-driven” cars, which leaves out the handful of jet-powered dragsters out there.

There was something in the air on opening night for the PRO Shootout, a Thursday; it was obvious to the veterans there that the atmospheric conditions were right. Multiple cars had easily topped 330 mph, and fans were speculating which of the rear-engine Top Fuel cars, which are typically a bit faster than the front-engine, full-bodied Funny Cars, would go the fastest.

So it was a bit of a surprise when Funny Car driver Tasca went 339.87 mph in his PPG-sponsored Ford Mustang Dark Horse that Thursday at Bradenton. And it was even more of a surprise when Tasca came back Friday night and went 341.68 mph.

That’s not only a record for Funny Cars and Ford Mustangs—it was the fastest pass in the history of drag racing.

That it happened at a little country track in Florida, and not at one of the major NHRA events at a premiere facility, shocked everyone.

But there’s no argument that it is legitimate, and it makes his car the world’s fastest Mustang. Of course, it’s lost on no one that there are very few parts on Tasca’s car that would fit on a stock Ford Mustang Dark Horse, but that’s to be expected by any vehicle that can go over 340 mph in 1000 feet. That said, Tasca credited Ford Performance for his record pass. “Their support and Ford’s aerodynamic and engineering expertise were crucial in breaking the 340-mph barrier,” Tasca said.

Of course, Tasca, 48, would like to set the NHRA record, but in his opinion, it’s a done deal already. “Now, doing it officially at an NHRA national event, I’d love to do it, but it’s already been done, and I’ve made this point very clear to everyone who’s asked me. It’s already been done,” Tasca told Autoweek. “Whoever does it is going to do it for the second time, not the first time. The first time at a national event, I’d love to do it—but we already did it.”

Tasca went on to say that the next big milestone, 350 mph, probably won’t happen in his lifetime. After all, Tony Schumacher broke the 330-mph barrier in 1999, and it has taken 25 years to creep up to 340.

Regardless of whether it is “official” by NHRA standards, Bob Tasca III did it in the world’s fastest Mustang.

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