Tasca family lives the 'win on Sunday' philosophy

Bob Tasca III said the dealership group uses social media, billboards and TV commercials to tie Tasca Racing to the retail business. 

"It's emotional marketing, connecting with fans on an emotional level," he said. "It has been a huge benefit to us at the dealership, back in the showroom." 

He said the group's online parts business, TascaParts.com, gets a big benefit from racing, starting with the website's tag line: "OEM parts, fast." Racing boosts the site's name recognition and promotes an image of speed, reliability, efficiency and teamwork, Tasca said. 

The parts business generates more than $40 million in annual sales, Tasca added. Its 20 trucks make deliveries throughout the Northeast, far outside Tasca Automotive Group's dealership footprint. 

"I attribute that to drag racing," he said. "We have been able to grow our business because of it. Hey, I can only sell so many cars in Rhode Island, right?" 

Showroom customers often ask about the racing team, Tasca said, even though there are only three drag-race tracks in the Northeast -- one each in New Hampshire, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They're not in the markets where Tasca Automotive Group has its dealerships. 

In his grandfather's heyday, Tasca said, "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" was almost literally true. Customers could buy cars that at least superficially looked like the ones that raced on Sundays.

"When my grandfather was racing, the same Fairlane Thunderbolts, the Cobra Jet Mustangs he raced, were on the showroom floor," he said. "You could literally buy a lot of that same Ford engineering with very little modification -- not like the nitro fuel car we're racing today." 

Tasca Ford was the group's original flagship dealership, founded in 1953. Ford Motor Co. was the racing team's corporate sponsor for many years, but the automaker stopped sponsoring professional drag racing at the end of 2014. That's a move the Tascas would love to see Ford reverse. 

Ford continues to sponsor NASCAR events, International Motor Sports Association and World Endurance Championship races, including Le Mans; the FIA World Rallycross Championship, and other series, said Ford spokesman Kevin Kennedy. 

"Am I disappointed Ford pulled out of drag racing? Yeah, very disappointed," Bob Tasca III said. "The sport is growing. Attendance has been growing. The TV coverage is growing. They get more than 1.2 million viewers per weekend." 

AutoAlert, a dealership software, marketing and training supplier based in Kansas City, Mo., was Tasca Racing's main sponsor for the race weekend here. 

Without disclosing how much Tasca Racing and its sponsors spend, Bob Tasca III said factory-sponsored teams at the high end probably spend $5.5 million to $6 million per season; "medium" teams, $3.5 million to $4 million; and teams that "get by," $2 million to $2.5 million. 

"With Ford, we were very well funded, and now we're just surviving," he said. "Every time we go down the track, it probably costs $10,000 just in parts."

Bob Tasca Jr. is president of Tasca Automotive Group and Bob Tasca III's father. He said in an interview here that Bob Tasca Sr. goaded Ford into sponsoring Tasca Racing. 

He did so partly by observing that a smaller-displacement Chevy could outrun a bigger-displacement Ford at the time, Bob Tasca Jr. said. 

"Henry Ford II used to call my father "The Critic'," he said. "My father told him they should change the name of the company from "Ford Motor Co.' and take out the "Motor.' 

"My father complained that Chevrolets were faster than Fords," he added. "Even though they had smaller engines, they were faster. A 327 [cubic-inch] Chevy could blow the doors off a 390 Ford engine. 

"But at the end, we were faster than the Chevys. Not all the time. Most Chevrolets could still beat most Fords, just not my dad's Fords. He loved racing, really loved it." 

Bob Tasca III said he hopes to emulate his grandfather by persuading Ford to sponsor drag racing again. 

"I believe I'm in the same position my grandfather was in the Sixties," he said.