Chicago - Duane Shields in the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster had a respectable weekend in Chicago at the 20th annual Children of Fallen Patriots NHRA Route 66 Nationals presented by K&N. Chicago is one of the big races on the tour and Duane wanted to pull out all the stops for his title sponsor Old World Industries which is headquartered in the Windy City. Duane qualified in the top half of the field in the no. 7 position. On the final qualifying run the car shook so hard that it broke the fuel pump drive. Other than that, the car ran well throughout the event.

In the opening round of eliminations the PEAK team took on Justin Ashley. As the lights came down, Ashley got off the line first but Duane was on a great run and stopped the clock with a blistering 5.29 at 276 MPH to take the win over Ashley’s 6.07 at 252 MPH.

In the quarterfinals, Duane faced Mia Tedesco who beat Kris Krabil in round one. At the hit, Tedesco had a slight edge at the starting line and was able to maintain her lead the entire quarter mile distance. In a squeaker, Tedesco got to the finish line first with a 5.30 at 280 MPH over Duane’s close 5.39 at 274 MPH. “We made a lot of progress this weekend we just didn’t get the win this time around. But it was great to race once again in front of PEAK's home town” Duane said.

Duane wanted to take a moment to congratulate fellow PEAK driver Dan Fletcher on his one hundredth national event win this weekend. Next, the PEAK team heads to New England Dragway for the Lucas Oil Regional, July 21-23. As always, Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises.