[Land-speed] Fwd: Bob Tasca, longtime Ford Dealer & drag racing sponsor ~

[fastmetalbdf at aol.com]

From:  fastmetalbdf at aol.com
To: land-speed at autox.team
CC:  j.demmitt at att.net
Sent: 1/8/2010 3:14:12 P.M. Eastern Standard  Time
Subj: Bob Tasca, longtime Ford Dealer & drag racing sponsor ~  


I just now learned today that Bob Tasca passed away, either today  or 
yesterday, at age 83 ..... his name became famous with the many drag cars  he 
sponsored as his dealership grew larger .  Bob started working  for Ford back 
in 1943 and went on to own his first dealership in Bristol, RI,  in 1953.  A 
large Tasca dealership is now run by his family in Cranston,  RI, near 
Providence.   Many of us oldtime local drag  fans/racers recall seeing Big Bob 
standing up near the starting line at  Connecticut Dragway when one of the 
many drag cars he sponsored over the  years was about to make a run ...... 
Billy Lawton drove Tasca Fords to  fame across America in super stock and 
factory experimental classes, with such  cars as the Mystery 9 Mustang and Zimmy 
1, and Bob's own grandson carries  on the Tasca Ford name today on a nitro 
funny car that he drives on  the NHRA national drag circuit.  Bob was a shrewd 
businessman who  realized that a Ford win on Sunday often meant more Ford 
sales in the  showrooms on Monday, and obviously he shared our love for 
racing and fast  cars. That was the era of storming Ford Thunderbolts, Galaxies, 
and big time  factory involvement, with so many other makes of bad-ass 
muscle cars  ready to duke it out with those Fords .... for Fame as well as 
Fortune  .... at drag strips every weekend ! ...... much great  racing before the 
wilder FX cars evolved into today's plastic-fantastic  Funnycars, and the 
other colorful class of crowd-pleasing cars: the  wheelstanding gassers of 
those years, took a back seat to the big-buck  pro-stocks, still present at 
national meets.   
                                                              
      Bruce in CT. ..... where it is too danged  cold for most all of us 
..... except, of course, our Ice & Snow Guru, Jon  W.   ~  Any heat in your 
garage,  Jon ...... or is that just for us sissies ?   LOL   ~