Muscle Milk Team Returns to the Lucas Oil Series with Final Round Appearance

With the country beginning to return to business as usual, race tracks are beginning to reopen and with that includes the restart of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. One of the first Lucas events for Duane Shields' Muscle Milk team concluded this past weekend at New England Dragway in Epping, NH.

Unfortunately, the track was challenging for drivers in both of the Top Alcohol classes, and most experienced traction problems more times than not. "The race was more of a power management contest as you had to utilize just the right amount of power in order to get down the track" Duane said.

Duane qualified in the sixth position and faced no. 1 qualifier Rich McPhillips. At the start, it was the Muscle Milk car out first as Duane had a .086 reaction time over McPhillips' .129. Both cars then experienced traction problems but Duane was able to pedal and hold on and take the win with a 5.93 at 255 MPH to McPhillips' 6.07 at 215 MPH. "We both had traction problems but I had a little bit better luck than he did. We managed to get the win which was critical because the next round was a bye-run" Duane observed.

In the semi-finals, due to the odd number of cars, Duane received the single and improved on his previous performance with a 5.50 at 267 MPH. He would then face Jackie Fricke in the finals. "We backed the power down and were able to finally get down the track without losing traction. We then added a little more power back into the car and got a solid baseline before the finals" Duane said.

The final round proved to be a good, competitive race between the two veteran drivers. As the lights came down, Fricke was able to get out of the gate first with a .059 to Duane's .084. As they raced to the finish line, it was was all Fricke with a 5.31 at 274 MPH over Duane's 5.38 at 273 MPH. Even though Duane lost it was the Muscle Milk team's best run of the weekend. "Jackie had a little better handle on the track than I did but at the end of the day, we are happy to have made it to the final round. No one cares how you got here, just how you finished" said.

Next, the team heads to Lebanon Valley in Upstate New York. "We expect the same kind of track in Lebanon Valley so we will take the data we and tune-up we developed here and use it there" he said. Duane would like to thank Muscle Milk, NGK, SRI, GRP, CleanBoost, and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their support as the NHRA season re-opens.