Duane Shields Guides PEAK Dragster to Big Win in Charlotte

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  1. News Editor

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    Duane Shields Guides PEAK Dragster to Big Win in Charlotte

    With the National Championship now mathematically out of reach, Duane Shields and the PEAK team came into the NHRA Carolina Nationals looking for a victory and scored big by winning their first national event of the year. “We knew coming into this race that our title hopes were over for the season so we had nothing to lose by going after the win in Charlotte and we made it happen,” Duane said.

    On his way to the winner’s circle, Duane qualified second with a sizzling 5.27 at 271 MPH to face Tom Fox Jr. in round one. At the hit it was Fox out first but the lead didn’t last long as he went up in smoke. Meanwhile, Duane had a decent opening round win as he stopped the clock with a 5.40 at 271 MPH.

    In round two, Duane raced against Tripp Tatum. Duane won both ends of the race beginning at the starting line where he edged out his competitor with an 0.059 reaction time to Tatum’s 0.079. Duane maintained his lead and crossed the stripe with a winning time of 5.65 at 259 MPH to Tatum’s 6.01 at 218 MPH.

    Next up was the semi-final round and the competition got dramatically tougher as two former National Champions, Alan Bradshaw and Duane Shields squared off for a trip to the final round. As the lights came down, Bradshaw was out of the gate first and started the clock with an 0.057 reaction time to Duane’s close 0.064. Both cars were side by side all the way down Broadway when Duane was able to close the gap on Bradshaw’s slight lead and win the round by a whisker. Duane’s winning time was a 5.399 at 268.49 to Bradshaw’s valiant 5.408 at 258.12 MPH. “That was my lucky round. I saw him next to me the whole way down the track. I thought I had won but I wasn’t sure until my win light came on,” Duane said.

    Between rounds the PEAK team chose to tune-up the car and were ready for the final round showdown against Brandon Booher, who was competing in a blown alcohol dragster with an automatic-style transmission. At the hit it was Booher out first with a great .015 light to Duane’s .066. Duane was able to make up Booher’s starting line advantage by overpowering him by more than a tenth of a second and crossed the finish line with a victorious 5.31 at 273 MPH to Booher’s 5.44 at 268 MPH. “He was driving a converter car so I expected he would have a great light and he did, but so did I. We wanted to be sure we had enough power to beat Brandon and I didn’t want to lose a close race so our decision to hop up the car before the finals was a good one,” Duane said after the win.

    Duane was very happy to have won the Carolina Nationals in the Top Alcohol Dragster class. “We have gone to a couple of finals here but have never won so we are very happy with the win and I would like to recognize PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their support in making all of this possible,” Duane said.
     
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