Duane Shields Goes to the Final Four in Reading

Reading, PA - Duane Shields in the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster had another late round finish as they went to the semi-finals at the Dodge NHRA Nationals held at Maple Grove Raceway. Duane qualified in the upper half of the field with a 5.34 at 273 MPH. Due to the weather forecast and the hurricane striking the Carolinas, several teams chose to sit this race out. But it was nearly a full field as 15 car were on hand for the usual 16 car field.

In round one, Duane raced California’s Julie Nataas in Randy Meyer’s car. As the lights came down Duane was long gone with an 0.023 reaction time to Nataas’ 0.075. At the finish line it was the PEAK Dragster stopping the clock with a strong 5.28 at 275 MPH to Nataas’ valiant 5.32 at 271 MPH.

In the second round, Duane faced Wayne Morris. Sadly for Morris, this race ended before it even started as he red lit which disqualified him immediately. It would not have mattered anyway as Duane was untouchable with a 5.26 at 276 MPH to Morris’ 5.57.

In the semi-finals things got tougher as Duane’s opponent was the JEGS machine driven by Troy Coughlin Jr. At the hit, Coughlin was out of the gate first with a slight 0.050 starting line advantage to Duane’s close 0.058. From the starting line the race was too close to call as both cars were side by side all the way down the 1320. But the win light indicated that Coughlin got to the stripe first with a 5.33 at 273 MPH to Duane’s very close 5.36 at 272 MPH.

Next, the team moves on to Charlotte, NC for the NHRA Carolina Nationals. Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their help.