"We had that car front-halved at [chassis and racecar builder] McKinney's," Wilkerson said. "And we have a couple of four- or six-race deals we're working on for Daniel to run it. We've got the new 2010 Ford Mustang body that I'm going to be running, and I may not have it in time for the first race but we're sure excited about that. The whole team will be back next year, and that's really going to make me strong again.

"Last season I learned that you can never pay enough attention to the details. It's the little things that get you beat, not the big things. That got me a couple of times last year, but we're going to pay much more attention to everything on the car, every piece and part, and I think we'll be good to go."

In just his second year racing a nitro Funny Car, former Top Alcohol Dragster racer Tasca III qualified his Ford Motorcraft/Quicklane Shelby Mustang in the top half of the field at 17 of the 24 events on the tour, including a well-earned pole position at the third race of the season, the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville. With the aid of tuners Chris Cunningham and Marc Denner, Tasca III parlayed the qualifying performance into a win, the first professional victory of his career, and later that season made his way to the winner's circle again at the event at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading.

"Clearly, 2009 was a much better year for me as a driver," Tasca III said. "There is no compromise for seat time, and the more you get, the more confidence you have as a team. I wanted to do my part and prove that I could win as a driver, and on a multitude of levels, doing that brought a lot of things together. It gave us confidence as a group, and it delivered a trophy to Motorcraft and Quicklane. The Gainesville win solidified the notion that we were a capable, winning team."

The early-season victory was promising, and a mid-season trip to the final round in Norwalk further buoyed the young team. Tasca III won at least one round of racing at all but seven events, and high-horsepower track conditions proved to be the biggest challenge.

"When those conditions rolled in and the tracks were 65-80 degrees, we didn't run some of the bigger numbers that we needed to," Tasca III said. "That's what we're addressing during the off-season."

According to Tasca III, Cunningham and Denner have done a lot of refining on the program, and to further aid the success of the team, an R&D staff was recently added. The all-new, more aerodynamic Shelby Mustang body is contributing to the positive vibe after it was tested following the fall Las Vegas race, and further fueling the anticipation of the upcoming season is the fact that the operation is experiencing their first off-season in their new shop in North Carolina, thus allowing the time spent last off-season getting settled to now be invested in the performance of the racecar.

The season ahead looks bright for Tasca Racing: the crew will remain the same, they will continue their successful partnership with Team Wilkerson Racing and campaign the new Mustang body, Motorcraft and Quicklane will continue to offer major financial backing, and an all-new merchandise program will be launched at the Winternationals that will include a state-of-the-art merchandise trailer with a complete Ford Racing and Bob Tasca apparel line. The team will also continue to raise awareness for juvenile diabetes with the program that they debuted in Charlotte last year as they unveiled the JDFR-themed car.

"Our second season was a breakout year for our program," Tasca III said. "To be successful in racing, you have to have a very comprehensive strategy to leverage the assets both on and off the racetrack. Our off-track activities have been extremely strong, but certainly you want to be as competitive as you can be on the racetrack. Our goal is to win the championship. That is the expectation, and that is the only result that is satisfactory to us. Unfortunately, we didn't do that this past year, but it's put us in an even stronger position going into the 2010 season."