By Susan Wade, Autoweek
Was NHRA Funny Car team owner-driver Bob Tasca III of Hope, RI acting like the toddler who was jealous of the new baby?
IndyCar is FOX Sports’ new baby, celebrated, welcomed to the broadcast family, lavished with oohs and aahs—and showcased with some genuinely clever, humorous, and engaging 30-second ads that debuted during the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl.
Tasca wasn’t being funny during eliminations at the NHRA season-opening Gatornationals two weeks ago when he took issue with FOX’s IndyCar-promo tagline “Fastest Racing on Earth.”
At first it sounded tongue-in-cheek when Tasca said on the telecast from Gainesville, Fla.:
“I want to say it to the fans: I’m very disappointed with FOX Sports. All winter I got to hear, “The fastest motorsports in the world.” And I looked up and I didn’t see the PPG Mustang. And I didn’t see [Austin] Prock’s car [which made the quickest run in the sport’s history at 341.68 mph last November at Pomona, Calif.]. I saw an IndyCar. And the fact is that we are the fastest motorsport.”
Then Tasca spun it angry: “And I think it’s an insult to the drivers and the fans. And truthfully, I didn’t think Fox was the Fake News Network.” Later, on social media, he refused to water down his remarks, asserting, “I said what I said.”
He’s a drag racing and Ford Motor Company evangelist who is certified in four NHRA classes, has earned a commercial pilot’s license, owns car dealerships, auto-service centers, and other businesses across the country, and has a seat on at least one Ford steering committee – clearly a driven and intelligent gentleman. And he understandably and nobly was standing up for his sport, his passion, his territory.
Three Points From This Tempest in a Trailer:
• Tasca was correct—FOX’s ads are incorrect. But they’re so appealing! For the sake of accurate reporting, though, FOX could try another tagline, something like “Fastest Traffic [Or Rush Hour] On Earth.”
• To be technical, it’s the elapsed time (from the starting line to the finish line) that counts in drag racing, not speed. (And where were NHRA officials in all this? Could it not have found a humorous way to assert itself?)
• NHRA should have thought of the idea long before FOX agreed to a deal with IndyCar. This is kind of public relations message the NHRA needs to be promoting, because drag racing is a sensory-overload sport that extreme-loving America should embrace. The NHRA can start taking baby steps.
Drivers Weigh In
Perhaps had Tasca been in the media center two days before his incendiary comments, he might have seen a different perspective. That’s when and where Top Fuel team owner and driver Tony Stewart—whose remarks were taken out of context in media reports days after Tasca’s statements—calmly addressed the “Fastest Racing on Earth” claim.
“I love FOX,” Stewart said. But he pointed out that “they’re doing some false advertising. They keep saying that IndyCar’s got the fastest cars. I don’t know what the hell they’re watching. They’re missing the mark by a hundred miles an hour. So they’re the fastest ones that turn during their lap. But I’m excited for IndyCar. I’m excited for FOX.”
NHRA/National Dragster
Tony Stewart for the most part likes what he sees with the NHRA/FOX Sports relationship.
IndyCar driver Graham Rahal, husband of former Funny Car racer Courtney Force, was at Gainesville to support father-in-law John Force’s team. And he said, “I thought it was an interesting tagline, but I think what FOX is doing for both sports is great. I think FOX is really going to push these two sports in a big way, particularly with the change in NASCAR.”
Furthermore, Stewart said, “FOX has been a great partner to NHRA, and to see them branch out to a different form of motorsport and get in the IndyCar side is huge. And I think for us, we kind of got our feelings hurt a little bit because there was such a big push for it, but it’s because it’s so new at the same time … and making sure that the fans know where to see IndyCar racing.
Featured image: NHRA/National Dragster
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