“I know your dad is looking down on us and smiling,” Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena told Bob Tasca Jr. Saturday morning. “He was a man with a vision. He was ahead of his time.”
Polisena was speaking of the late Robert Francis Tasca Sr., Rhode Island’s legendary auto icon who became a Ford dealer at age 26 in 1953 and built Tasca Automotive Group/Tasca Racing, which now spans 66 years and is under the direction of his son.
“I remember when I was younger and I had your father on my television show,” Polisena told the younger Tasca of his father, who passed away on Jan. 8, 2010, at age 83. “We became good friends. He was a wonderful man.”
On Saturday, Polisena and Johnston Director of Public Works Arnie Vecchione – who, like the mayor, is a longtime friend of the Tasca family – visited the Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge Ram and Fiat dealership at 1657 Hartford Ave. for what was billed as the official grand opening in Johnston.
“It’s a pleasure to have you in Johnston,” Polisena told an attentive audience of Tasca family members, employees and visitors before reading an official commendation.
He presented Tasca Jr. with an official commendation that read, in part: “Representing all the citizens of Johnston, I am honored to extend sincere congratulations to the Tasca family upon the opening of their business in Johnston. I would like to express the hope for success and best wishes, now and in the years to come.”
Polisena then opened a wooden case that featured imprinted gold lettering and announced: “I’m giving you a key to the town. However, Bob, it’s not a key to the safe!”
To which Bob Tasca Jr. – who handed the key case to his daughter Jamie Tasca-Frateschi – replied: “We’re thrilled to be here. The cooperation we got from the town of Johnston was second to none.”
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