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Bob Tasca III race team has strong weekend in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – It was a weekend full of making progress for Bob Tasca III and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang team in Las Vegas, according to his publicist Alexis Kinch in a prepared news statement.

The rookie driver made it to the second round of NHRA Funny Car competition before falling to Ron Capps; he is now ranked 12th in points.

“The right lane just wasn’t the place to be today,” said Tasca. “You go out in the second round and your adrenaline is pumping and you really want to get into the semi-finals. We lost lane choice by just a small amount to Ron Capps for the round, and unfortunately, only one dragster went down it and no Funny Cars.”

Sunday’s race marked the second time that Tasca advanced to the second round of competition, and the first time he competed alongside Capps.

“The car got real loose on me and came sideways,” said Tasca, following his second run of the day. “I stepped off it and I pedaled it once just in case Ron may have smoked the tires, but then I saw him out in front of me. The car came around towards the cone as I lifted, and when I lifted, I hit the cone.

"But that’s the difference between racing and qualifying. On Sunday, within reason you do whatever you can to get to the finish line and unfortunately for us we lost a little bit of traction and the car came around pretty hard. But Capps made a real good run down that left lane.”

To start the day, Tasca faced Melanie Troxel for the second time this year. The two first-year Funny Car drivers met in the first round in Pomona, where Tasca earned his first round win of his nitro Funny Car career.

“It was a great weekend for our team, and we’re certainly building on the future and gaining some momentum,” said Tasca. “We don’t necessarily compare ourselves to who had the quickest run for the whole weekend, but we compare ourselves on how quick we are compared to the competition for each of the sessions. Through qualifying we were extremely consistent, and then today, it was great to get out there and get a round win. We’ve gained some momentum here and we’re going to carry that into Atlanta.”

The NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series will take a week off before heading to Georgia in two weeks for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:45 AM to Racing | Permalink | Comments 0

Tiny Saves Gas, but Big Can Save Lives

With gasoline prices having settled past $3 a gallon and increased talk about global warming, one of those darling little fuel-efficient cars like the Smart Fortwo, Toyota Yaris or Honda Fit may seem more attractive than ever. But are they safe? asks The New York Times.

Knowing for sure is an enormously and perhaps hopelessly complex task. One problem is human ingenuity. People find so many ways to crash that one can’t test for all of them. Then there are variations in engineering. Also, cars of different sizes attract drivers of different ages, different levels of skill and different regard for self-preservation.

Some side-impact crash tests done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have indicated that although there can be exceptions to the bigger-is-better rule, fatality statistics show that, over all, small cars are more dangerous.

Occupants of the smallest cars are about 51 percent more likely to be killed in a crash than those in midsize or large cars, according to 2006 fatality figures analyzed by the insurance group.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:48 AM to Safety | Permalink | Comments 0

More cars use pricier premium gas

At a time of record pump prices for regular gas, automakers are introducing more cars that use even costlier premium, according to USA Today.

The number of new vehicle models that need — or at least run better on — the priciest gasoline has steadily risen from 166 in the 2002 model year to 282 this year, shows an analysis by Kelley Blue Book at the request of USA TODAY.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:40 AM to Auto industry | Permalink | Comments 0

Oil Prices Rose Above $111 a Barrel

Oil prices rose Monday after global financial leaders expressed concerns about volatility in major currencies and the dollar slipped against the euro, according to the Associated Press.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $1.09 to $111.23 a barrel in electronic trading by midday in Europe. The contract rose 3 cents to settle at $110.14 a barrel Friday.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:36 AM to Crude oil market | Permalink | Comments 0