Duane Shields returned to Atco Raceway, New Jersey's premier racing facility after a much deserved four week break. Twelve Top Alcohol Dragsters showed up for the Lucas Oil Regional event with Duane Shields in the PEAK Dragster sliding into the number one qualifying position with a very respectable 5.23 at 278 MPH.


I round one, Duane took on up and coming driver Tiffany Januik. As the light turned green, it was Duane out of the gate first with an 0.059 to Januik's 0.075. Duane never looked back as he had Januik covered by a tenth of a second and took the win with a 5.40 at 274 MPH to Januik's 5.50 at 263 MPH to move on to the semis.


In the semis, Duane raced friendly rival Jackie Fricke. At the hit Duane lost traction and smoked the tires resulting in an abandoned run. "The car slowed down in round one after running strong all weekend including some pre-race testing. So, we gave the car some additional power before the semifinals and it spun the tires as a result. But we qualified number one which I have not done in a while and gained another round of points so it was an alright weekend" Duane said.


From Atco the team returns to national event competition beginning in Brainard. "We can't claim any more regional points so we'll have to wait and see how everyone else dose at any remaining regional events. We will now concentrate on national events beginning with Brainard which I'm looking forward to. Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their support.