If you don’t think tire shake can have lasting affects, just ask Funny Car racer Bob Tasca. Tasca was feeling the aftereffects of a tough outing Friday evening following the first day of the National Time Trials at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, AZ.

“It was an ugly, ugly day out there,” Tasca said. “The track was awful today, it was way over-glued. I can tell you we made nine runs in Las Vegas and five were the quickest we had ever been. We made seven in Palm Beach and they were fast. We shook violently the first two runs here.”

Tasca said at the outset of the season he planned to make the most of testing in 2009 because of his new alliance with 2008 championship runner-up Tim Wilkerson.

New Rule, He Says, All In The Spirit of Saving Money …

If you don’t think tire shake can have lasting affects, just ask Funny Car racer Bob Tasca. Tasca was feeling the aftereffects of a tough outing Friday evening following the first day of the National Time Trials at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, AZ.

“It was an ugly, ugly day out there,” Tasca said. “The track was awful today, it was way over-glued. I can tell you we made nine runs in Las Vegas and five were the quickest we had ever been. We made seven in Palm Beach and they were fast. We shook violently the first two runs here.”

Tasca said at the outset of the season he planned to make the most of testing in 2009 because of his new alliance with 2008 championship runner-up Tim Wilkerson.

This Phoenix outing becomes even more crucial with the announcement from the NHRA limiting testing.

While some might think Tasca would be opposed to such a regulation considering his 2009 game plan, he’s admittedly fine with it.

“I’m okay with it, to be perfectly honest,” Tasca said. “There were initial rumors of no testing, which I thought would have been a terrible mistake. I think the way the NHRA worded it [their testing policy] is the best way it could have been handled. It’s a compromise where you have issues with people match racing, setting up fake match races, and getting around it and obviously sneaking off to IHRA races to test.”

Tasca told CompetitionPlus.com that he isn’t sure of planned tests during the course of the season but does admit strategy will play a large role in who runs when and who goes where.

“You want to use them wisely and on tracks where the conditions are similar to what you are going to encounter,” Tasca explained. “We’re probably circling St. Louis and likely you’d want to do an Indy test and maybe save one for the Las Vegas test.”

If you add up the math, that leaves one opening, assuming each of the outings are one day affairs. Tasca opened a new shop late last season in Concord, NC, just down the street from Bruton Smith’s palatial zMax Dragway.

“I’m sure we're saving one of our dates for there, too,” Tasca added. “We just have to strategize and make the most of what we have available. If you are a single team and you get lost on your tune-up, testing can become a process of throwing darts with your eyes closed. That makes mine and Tim’s deal even more strategic for gathering data headed into a race weekend.”