Duane Shields Turns in a Solid Performance in Reading

Duane Shields in the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster turned in a very respectable performance at the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, PA. Unfortunately, the PEAK team came up just a little short in the semifinals. Duane qualified second with an unreal 5.18 at 278 MPH. "The 5.18 sent a message that we can compete with anyone across the country" Duane said.

In round one, Duane raced Earl Nichols. Duane left first to cover Nichols with an .047 to his .063. At the top end it was Duane taking the win light with a 5.30 at 275 MPH to Nichols' 5.75 at 252 MPH.

In the second round, the competition got a little tougher with Duane facing east coast veteran Robin Samsel. Once again it was Duane out of the box first with an .083 to Samsel's close .087. Duane kept the lead and took the stripe with a strong 5.24 at 275 MPH to Samsel's 5.36 at 268 MPH to move onto the semifinal round.

In the semifinals, it was the PEAK team taking on the JEGS dragster of Troy Coughlin Jr. As the lights came down on the tree it was Coughlin out first with an .069 to Duane's .089. Even so, the PEAK Dragster was in the lead before Coughlin was able to gain just enough momentum to capture the lead and take the victory with a 5.22 at 279 MPH to Duane's valiant 5.24 at 277 MPH. "It was hotter today and we wanted to avoid smoking the tires with a safe tune up but we still gave him a run for his money. He just had a little better day than we did but that's racing" Duane said.

The PEAK team will take three weeks off before heading to Richmond, Virginia for a Lucas Oil Regional event on October 4-6. "We're running good overall but we really need a win to correlate with the car's strong performance. We'll move on to Virginia and see what we can do there" Duane said. The team would like to recognize PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK Spark Plugs, GRP Connecting Rods, Brad Anderson Enterprises, Hot Wheels Car Care Products, SRI and Clean Boost for all of their efforts in supporting Shields Racing.