Toliver Loses Rematch with Tasca at Seattle

Final eliminations for the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways were completed today and Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver lost in a first-round rematch with Ford driver Bob Tasca. He lost a first-round match-up with Tasca earlier this season at Phoenix.

Toliver qualified the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy 13th for the second consecutive race with an elapsed time of 4.309 seconds at 276.80 mph. In the first round Toliver lost a tight race as both drivers saw the performance of their cars fall off. Tasca had an elapsed time of 4.498 seconds at 246.80 mph to edge Toliver's 4.535 e.t. at 205.85 mph.

"Man, I thought we might have stole one," Toliver said. "Neither one of us made a real good run and we had holes going out. We just couldn't hang on. I thought we might have something for them after our strong run on Saturday in qualifying, but it just wasn't meant to be. Now it's pack it up and finish off the Western Swing on a strong note at Sonoma."

Next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Series is the third and final leg of the three-race Western Swing, the 22nd annual FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., from July 24-26.

Kirk Weeks