With Bob Tasca Jr. coming off his second national event win at the Toyo Tire Nationals in Reading PA, we thought it would be cool to feature the Tasca family’s first Mustang Funny Car entry.
Bob Tasca, driver Bill Lawton and tuner/Tasca mechanic John Healey teamed up in 1965 and 1966 to campaign the Zimmy line of Mustang Funny Cars. The "Mystery 8" logo painted on the rear quarter was in reference to the goal of running in the eight-second zone.
Bill Lawson in his AFX TASCA Ford Mustang at the 1966 NHRA Summer Finals at Indianapolis.
During the 1960’s Bill Lawton was one of the East coasts most successful drag racers. When he teamed up with Tasca Ford and tuner John Healey, Lawton won many races in the Super Stock, Factory Experimental, and Funny Car classes. He drove the Tasca Ford sponsored Ford Thunderbolt during the “factory wars” of the early-60’s. Tasca was one of the first teams to alter the wheelbase on their Thunderbolt and helped to create some of the first altered drag dars of the era.
In 1965, Tasca acquired one of Ford’s purpose built AFX Mustang’s, equipped with Ford's new single overhead cam (SOHC) 427-cid engine. Ford was really pushing the Mustang as great performer and gave several Ford factory teams a highly modified version of the Mustang to compete in. With Lawton at the wheel they would go on to win several NHRA national events and solidified their place in drag racing history.
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