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Bob Tasca, the Fastest Man in Drag Racing, Says He Can Go Even Faster
One year ago, NHRA Funny Car driver Bob Tasca III made a pass of 341.68 mph. It was the first time in history that a wheel-driven dragster (as opposed to a jet car) had topped 340 mph on a quarter-mile drag strip.
That was at the PRO Superstar Shootout, held at Bradenton Motorsports Park south of Tampa, Florida, which was the richest drag race in history, with $250,000 payouts to the Top Fuel and Funny Car winners and $125,000 to the Pro Stock winner.
Tasca’s record pass was set during qualifying, and while he didn’t win the race, he has had bragging rights ever since. The PRO race was not sanctioned by the NHRA, and consequently the sanctioning body doesn’t recognize Tasca’s record, but no one has questioned the fact that Tasca is the fastest man in drag racing history, and that overnight, the little Bradenton Motorsports Park quarter-mile drag strip became the fastest track in the country.
The PRO Superstar Shootout is back for its second year, and while it isn’t advertising the record purses it paid in the event’s debut, all the top NHRA pro drivers are back, treating the PRO Shootout as an unofficial pre-season test for the NHRA season, which begins with the 56th annual NHRA Gatornationals March 6–9 at Gainesville Raceway, 150 miles due north of Bradenton. Top Fuel racers Antron Brown, Brittany Force, Doug Kalitta, and Tony Stewart are among those coming, as well as Funny Car pilots Ron Capps, Austin Prock, Jack Beckman, and Matt Hagan.
Ford factory-backed driver Tasca, whose family has owned Ford dealerships for more than 70 years and has been involved in racing for nearly as long, will be back in Bradenton. And he tells Hagerty that he thinks he can go even faster than he did last year.
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Last season, the Rhode Island driver says he made practice runs that “were two miles an hour faster than that run, and one of them was into a 30-mph headwind, so it really slowed the car down at the finish line. So yeah, we believe we can run 342 or 343. We’re gonna try.”
In this case, Tasca says, familiarity breeds speed. “Not only is it a great place, we were able to run on it for four straight days, and you get really good at that track. It’s a combination of great conditions, and having the opportunity to run.
“To be the first one to break 340 miles an hour, it was one of the great runs in drag racing history. I’m just proud of my team. I give the credit to them. They gave me a great race car, and we did an amazing thing. I’m sure the record will be broken many times down the road, but we were the first to do it.
“We’ve got the whole team coming back this year. We’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”
This is a healthy time for drag racing, both at the PRO Superstar event, where, Tasca says, advance ticket sales have been running ahead of last season, and with the NHRA in general, where Tasca finished fifth in the championship in 2024. “Our TV viewership was up last year, we had multiple, multiple sellouts across the season, we’re getting a new TV deal that they’ll be working on in this next year—a lot of good things are happening.”
You walk the Bradenton drag strip, and you’re amazed that a car can go from a standing stop to over 340 mph there and still have room to stop at the end. But it obviously can. After all, you can do a lot with 11,000 horsepower and a couple of big pop-out parachutes.
The 2025 Scag PRO Superstar Shootout begins Thursday, February 6, with testing and the first round of qualifying, with three more qualifying sessions on Friday, and eliminations on Saturday. There’s music, autograph sessions and a vendor village. One thing that is different this year: YouTube star Cletus McFarland, whose Freedom Factory oval race track is next door, has bought half of Bradenton Motorsports Park, and will help promote events there in 2025.
Tickets are available here. If you can’t attend, the event will be streamed live on FloRacing, the pay-per view motorsports outlet.
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The cars are crazy. 340+ is mind boggling. That “Mustang” is kind of ugly though.
Tasca needs to focus on consistency. Last year he started the same way hunting fastest records, only to suck during the season! It’s time to concentrate on winning races, that’s what Ford is paying for! Wasn’t happy when Ford dropped Force, and he continues to rub it in Fords face!
Tough crowd here. He and his team are going 340 mph.
He can. He might. Conditions being right. Then again so could Capps or Hagen or…Like to see him put a ‘ Mystery 9 ‘ on the rear quarter wrap. I’m sentimental that way.
(ps) Timothy – Absolutely. Setting up a six disk clutch to hook at just the right moment at different tracks under different conditions on an 11,000 horsepower nitro is childs play. Prock does it in his sleep, doesn’t even bother to look at the data. Tasca through all that away on a silly whim.
sorry folks – ‘ threw ‘
The article said 1/4 mile. I thought cars in the fastest class ran 1000 feet. Or is that just certain tracks or sanctioning bodies?
I had much the same thought. I believe that NHRA is doing the 1000’ thing, which may be one reason they don’t recognize the speed record.
I thought that the fastest time was the most important factor in a car race.
Absolutely. But this is drag racing, and speed records are a thing – always have been.
I live about 3 miles from where Garlits made the first recognized 200 MPH pass.
Did he win the race? Nobody remembers.
200 MPH? Google will get you that answer in a heartbeat.
It is a thousand feet. Not only because of run out room but because the cars were hand grenading mostly at the very end of the run. When you think of it having fewer feet means slower top speeds. If they were still running the quarter in funny car more than one person would have probably cracked 345 or something. – No need to Google Tom, I grew up in Mansfield. Was going to Island and Hot Dog Johnny’s with my friends before I had a licence. Then it was still called ‘Shades of Death’ road instead of just ‘Shades’. Those signs always got stolen quicker then they could replace them.
Craig Breedlove’s 1/4 mile trap speed record of 377.754 mph was set in a car powered by rockets, not jets. Upon shutting down the power, the car snapped sideways. Craig’s deployment of the parachute, which immediately ripped out of its mounts sideways, sent the car flipping into the sky to a height of a couple hundred feet. Miraculously the car settled into a flat spin, floating back down the Earth and landing on it wheels. Somehow, Craig emerged unhurt.