341.68 MPH: NHRA Funny Car Pilot Bob Tasca Says Nothing Unofficial About His Record Speed Mark

• Tasca’s feat eclipsed a 25-year-old nitro threshold and a 20-year-old Funny Car mark—but it happened at a non-NHRA-sanctioned event, so it’s unofficial in the NHRA’s eyes.

• No anticipation, Tasca says: ‘I’ve already done it.’

• How far away is a 350-mph run? Probably not in his lifetime, Tasca says.

Bob Tasca III stood the drag-racing world on its ear Feb. 9 with a 341.68-mph Funny Car pass at Bradenton, Fla., during qualifying for the PRO Superstar Shootout. It was the fastest run in the sport’s history, even surpassing the best any Top Fuel dragster has delivered.

However, the NHRA doesn’t recognize his achievement because it occurred at a non-NHRA event. So, as the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend with the Lucas Oil Winternationals at suburban Los Angeles’ In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, one question remains: Will anyone go 340 mph officially?

According to Tasca, that’s a moot point.

“I've already done it officially,” the Dark Horse Ford Mustang owner-driver said. “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. 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.”

His accomplishment was the first in the nitro ranks. It broke a 20-year-old Funny Car record. Gary Scelzi was the first to clock a 330-mph-or-better, in the second qualifying round of the 2004 Joliet, Ill., race, with a 330.15. But Tasca broke a 25-year-old nitro-ranks record. Top Fuel’s Tony Schumacher was the first to go 330 mph (330.23), in 1999, at Chandler, Ariz.

Tasca’s speed record, as impressive as it was, raises at least a few questions:

Will he or anyone else in either Top Fuel or Funny Car post an official 340-mph speed record?

Moreover, will anyone reach the 350-mph mark?

Never mind that the NHRA no longer rewards a driver for setting a performance record at a national event with 20 bonus points. Never mind that speed, no matter how remarkable, takes a back seat to elapsed time in NHRA competition.

“Every crew chief out here is trying to go quicker and faster. That's our job,” Tasca’s co-crew chief Todd Okuhara said. “They spend days and nights working on it and trying to do it. So how quick, how fast? I don't know. What is too fast? There's probably a number. I just hope we're not there. If we're close to it on every run, you're going to be on edge. But I don't know what that number is.”

Even if the NHRA attempts to slow down the cars for the sake of safety, crew chiefs always know the knobs to turn to circumvent the effort.

“Not always,” Okuhara said, “but you can try. You try.”

Neither Tasca nor his colleagues could duplicate the 341.68-mph feat or surpass it a month later at the NHRA season-opening Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla. And Tasca said that surprised him a bit.

“I thought for sure we would've seen it Saturday night in Gainesville,” he said. “We were setting the car up like we did in Bradenton. It all depends on conditions. We could do it here [at Pomona]. If the conditions are right, we can do it in Phoenix. I believe we could do it in Vegas, and I believe probably the last chance we would have to do it as Charlotte before it starts to get too warm.