InsideTopAlcohol

InsideTopAlcohol

I will be addressing the state of Top Alcohol on Facebook Live this Thursday at 7 p.m. CST at the InsideTopAlcohol Facebook page -

http://Facebook.com/insidetopalcohol

Items to be discussed will be:
  • Health of the Top Alcohol classes
  • Regional & National Points structure
  • Future of "Regional" events
  • Proposal of new "Pro Comp" class
  • Discussion to follow
Once completed I will post it to YouTube and on here for those of you who aren't on Facebook. If you aren't on Facebook, this might be a good time to join, or at least watch on your wife's account.

Hope to see you there!
Chicago - Duane Shields and the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster team went down swinging in the quarterfinal round of the Route 66 NHRA Nationals. The national points leader going into Chicago lost a heartbreaker to Chris Demke. It was one of those races where one contestant would have to lose regardless of how well the car ran. Duane qualified third with a respectable 5.24 at 276 MPH. “We ran really well so we’re happy with our performance. And it was PEAK’s hometown race so overall it was an enjoyable weekend” Duane said summing up the event.

In round one, Duane faced Kim Parker who has been impressive since switching to an A/Fuel dragster so it was anyone’s race. As both cars completed their burnout Parker was unable to get the car in reverse and wisely drove it down the track allowing Duane to solo for a first round win. Duane demonstrated he brought his A game and ran a stellar 5.25 at 278 MPH to advance to round two. “They are known to step up and run some big numbers so we were ready for them. It was too bad she broke because it would have been a great race.” Duane explained.

Going into round two Duane met up with fellow west coast powerhouse Chris Demke in the Peen Rite entry. Demke was a little off his game in round one, posting an elapse time of 5.51, so the PEAK team had a good chance of taking the win if Demke wasn’t able to improve from the prior round. As the cars left the line, Demke got the edge at the starting line with a .028 to Duane’s .064. Both cars were side by side with the PEAK Dragster closing the gap. Unfortunately for Duane, Demke was able to take the stripe by a distance of only 16 feet, which is less that a car length. Demke took the win with a 5.27 at 277 MPH to Duane’s valiant 5.27 at 278 MPH. “Chris stepped up when he had too and ran his best ET and reaction time against me so that is that. We’ll go to the next race confident that we are competitive and can win.

The PEAK team will take a quick break and then return to NHRA national...
Reading PA - Duane Shields in the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster won his second NHRA Lucas Oil Regional event of the season. This time the win came at Maple Grove Raceway over the memorial day weekend where he beat Doug Foley in the final round.

The win was much needed after an unscheduled stop in Norwalk, Ohio the week prior where the team experienced a first round defeat. “We decided to go into Reading a day early and test which paid off for us as we were able to rebound” Duane said. The PEAK team found the results they were looking for in testing as they ran an impressive 5.21 at 278 MPH. But the team fell off slightly due to an electrical problem in qualifying and ended up sixth with a 5.35 at 273 MPH.

In round one, Duane took on Richard Bourke. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the track’s staging lights so the cars were allowed to cool down and refuel before returning to the starting line once the issue was resolved. At the hit, Duane was out of the box first with an .068 to Bourke’s .102. That was all it took as Duane had Bourke covered by a country mile with a victorious 5.41 at 271 MPH to Bourke’s 5.51 at 257 MPH.

In the semi-final round, Duane took on Jackie Fricke. Both cars left nearly at the same time with Fricke getting a very slight edge. However, Duane was on a very good pass and clicked off a competitive 5.27 at 274 MPH to take the win over Fricke’s honorable 5.32 at 268 MPH. “This was a big match up for us as Jackie was leading the points going into the round. We were able to make up a lot of ground by getting the win in the semis” Duane said.

In the final round, Duane faced off with former Top Fuel pilot Doug Foley. As the lights came down, Duane left on Foley with an .074 to Foley’s .080. Duane was on another clean pass and took the stripe with a sizzling 5.25 at 275 MPH to take home the Wally. Meanwhile, Foley had traction problems and shut off early with a 7.62 at 113 MPH. “We tuned the car up in the finals to...