Duane Shields Takes Semi-Final Finish at Indy Lucas Oil Event

Duane Shields and the Muscle Milk A/Fuel Dragster team made an appearance at the Lucas Oil Regional event held at the famous Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis. The race replaced the Atco Raceway Lucas Oil event which had been scheduled for the same weekend. Duane qualified fifth in a tough 8 car field with a fine5.32 at 274 MPH.

In round one, Duane disposed of east coast veteran Robin Samsel. Duane made a respectable pass in the heat to take the win with a 5.32 at 275 MPH over Samsel's close 5.36 at 264 MPH to move on to the next round.

In the semi-finals, Duane was paired up with Julie Nataas. As the lights came down it was Nataas out of the gate first with a great .20 light. Duane also had a competitive .40 light and was not too far behind. But to add to Nataas' advantage, Duane's Muscle Milk Dragster dropped a cylinder 4.3 seconds into the run. At the finish line, it was Nataas taking a close holeshot win with a 5.27 at 275 mph over Duane's quicker 5.25 at 274 MPH. "We ran our best all weekend. She had an awesome light, I had a good light. To make it even more disappointing for us, we were low (ET) for the round" Duane said.

Next, the team heads to Epping, NH in the Boston area for another Lucas Oil regional event, Aug. 20-21. Duane would like to thank his sponsors including Muscle Milk, NGK Spark Plugs, GRP Connecting Rods, Clean Boost, SRI, and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their excellent support of this season.