Shields Loses a Close One at Indy

Shields Loses a Close One at Indy

Indianapolis, Sept. 5, 2010 - The NHRA US Nationals is drag racing's
crown jewel. And every racer that enters the Labor Day classic brings
their "A game" as well as plenty of parts in the trailer. One of
NHRA's best teams in the Top Alcohol Dragster division is arguably the
Shortline Express team of Duane Shields.

Shields brought his "A game" to Indy but knew this wasn't just another
drag race. "We came into Indy on top of our game but so did everyone
else. There are no easy opponents filling out the rest of the field.
It's competitive from top to bottom" Shields said. Just to drive home
his point, twenty-four cars competed for just sixteen spots with a
competitive 5.42 being the bump spot. Shields qualified in the top
half of the field with a 5.31 at 265 MPH which was good for the
seventh qualifying position.

In the first round Shields faced Marty Thacker of Robinson, Ill.
Thacker, qualified his blown alcohol dragster in the tenth position
with a respectable 5.34 at 268 MPH. With Thacker racing a blown
alcohol entry vs. Shields' naturally aspirated nitro burning car, it
was sure to be an exciting match up as many of the fans favor one type
of car over the other up in the grandstands.

As both cars launched off the starting line, it was Thacker out of the
gate first with a 0.029 to Shields' 0.042 but that would be the only
difference in the race. Both cars were side by side until Shields'
lost a cylinder at 5.01 seconds into the run and the engine lost some
of its momentum. Meanwhile, Thacker crossed the finished line first by
a whisker as both drivers had identical 5.377 elapsed times and both
posted the same 265 MPH speeds! "I knew it would be a very close race
going in and it was. He was right there. I hate losing close races,
but it's Indy and Marty's a good racer and deserved to go on and win
the event" said Shields.

While Shields' lost the battle, he still enjoys the Indy experience.
"We have a lot of friends and fans in Indianapolis and most of them
stopped by. I also got the chance to sign a lot of pictures and had
fun doing it so it was still a pretty good weekend. Shields thanks
Hussey Copper and NGK Spark Plugs for their continued support this
season.