Mike Neff won the first race for Ford’s BOSS engine at the last race of NHRA’s 2009 Full Throttle season, in Pomona, and all the John Force team Mustangs are using it this year.

So why doesn’t Ford stalwart and Rhode Island dealer Bob Tasca III have the BOSS in his Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang?

Turns out Tasca might have a “better idea” – branding his own version of the Cobra Jet engine his grandfather made famous in the 1960s.

Mike Neff won the first race for Ford’s BOSS engine at the last race of NHRA’s 2009 Full Throttle season, in Pomona, and all the John Force team Mustangs are using it this year.

So why doesn’t Ford stalwart and Rhode Island dealer Bob Tasca III have the BOSS in his Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang?

Turns out Tasca might have a “better idea” – branding his own version of the Cobra Jet engine his grandfather made famous in the 1960s.

“We don’t use the quote-unquote ‘John Force BOSS’ engine,” Tasca said during an exclusive interview with Attitude’s CompetitionPlus.com last weekend during the National Time Trials at Arizona’s Firebird International Raceway. “We are evolving an engine combination where we are going to brand it the ‘Tasca Cobra Jet.’”

Bob Tasca Sr., who died January 8 at age 83, created the Cobra Jet 428 from parts in the Ford service catalog. His success caused a demand for the engine in the Sixties and helped Tasca Sr. coin the business of racing’s most famous phrase: “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.”

“If it (Tasca Cobra Jet) happens this season, it will be late in the season, because we’re still changing blocks,” Tasca III explained. “We’re actually working on a block program with Brad Anderson. We’re working on a head program . . . We are definitely moving to an exclusive Ford-powered platform.”

Tasca III, who has added a multi-year sponsorship from FordParts.com, mysteriously alluded to another way he’s stepped-up his Funny Car effort and tuning alliance with Tim Wilkerson.

“I’ve brought in some contract help, off-site – names not to be disclosed – literally, they’re on my payroll working day-and-night on R&D,” Tasca said. “A lot of different things . . . You won’t see them at the racetracks but, hopefully, you’ll see some of their performance on the racetrack . . . Most of my team doesn’t even know who they are.

“We are working very hard on what we call ‘acceleration rate.’ Horsepower is horsepower. If we all have 8,000, I want to have 8,000 horsepower before the guy next to me has 8,000.”

The Cobra Jet project isn’t specifically a tribute to his legendary grandfather.

“People say, ‘Are you going to dedicate the season to him?’ I’m not that kind of person. I dedicate my life to the style and the character of the life he lived. It’s more than a season.

“I was so happy for him to see our first win, in Gainesville, and our second win, in Reading. For him to know we truly are a force on the racetrack would make him proud. I was blessed to be able to show him the beginning of our program, and how we’re going to carry that legacy on.”

Advertisement