Duane Shields Makes it to the Final Round of the O’Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston

Duane Shields Makes it to the Final Round of the O’Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston

Houston - The World Champ is back! Duane Shields and the Shortline Express team has picked up momentum to make back-to-back final round appearances starting with a win in Virginia last week and then a final round appearance at the O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston. “It was a good outing. We celebrated Chris Zedaker’s birthday and it’s the one year anniversary of the death of Faye Beasley, so we dedicated the day to them” Duane said. Faye Beasley, is the mother of crew member Jerry Beasley.

Duane qualified well with a strong 5.31 at 273 MPH which was good for the no. 3 position and meant he would race no. 14 qualifier Lee Callaway in the first round. At the hit Callaway got out of the gate first but Duane was able to get around him towards the finish line. “We backed the car way down and almost lost to Callaway. But, I was able to get around him in time to get the win” Shields said.

In round two, Duane faced David Brounkowski in a close and exciting race. At the starting line Brounkowski got a slight lead but the Shortline Express car had a slightly better ET and was able to claim the stripe with a 5.41 at 270 MPH to Brounkowski’s close 5.44 at 262 MPH.

The semi finals had Duane paired up with Chase Copeland driving for Gene Snow. “The semi finals had us most concerned as Copeland runs well and cuts very good lights” said Shields. Both cars left together with Copeland getting a slight advantage but was off pace and posted a 5.61 at 259 MPH. Duane had a better ET as he recorded a 5.38 at 273 MPH which was good enough to cover Copeland and take the win.

The final round came down to Duane Shields and top qualifier Jim Whiteley who was running in the 5.20’s most of the weekend. As the lights came down Whiteley was out first with an .034 to Duane’s .064. Whiteley never trailed and took the title with a 5.26 at 273 MPH to Duane’s 5.38 at 268 MPH. “We just wanted to go up to the starting line and make a good run. We hoped to beat him but it wasn’t our day. Besides, I don’t think we could have beat a 5.26 since there was high humidity and the conditions were not favorable to us. But it was a good weekend and we’re happy to have gone to the final round” Duane said.

The Shortlne Express team wants to thank GRP Connecting Rods, NGK Spark Plugs and Molinari Racing Products for their support.