Shields Makes it to the Finals in Brainerd

Shields Makes it to the Finals in Brainerd

Brainerd MN - After taking a planned break away from the NHRA Lucas
Oil Drag Racing Series, Duane Shields was back in the driver's seat
and wasted little time making it to a final round. Shields scored a
runner up finish at the NHRA Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd and
was glad to be back after sitting out much of June and July. "It felt
good to take a break but I'm glad to be back" Shields said.

Shields, driving his familiar blue and orange Shortline Express A/Fuel
Dragster qualified fifth with a 5.40 at 265 MPH. "We came into this
race utilizing a different fuel pump and it might have hurt us a
little bit as the car has been dropping cylinders. But, we were still
very competitive and will be going into Indy" Shields pointed out.

In the first round, Shields met up with Darren Nicholson who qualified
eighth with a 5.51. At the light, it was Nicholson out first with an
0.046 to Shields' 0.097. It was a close side-by-side race all the way
to the finish line with Shields taking the stripe with a 5.35 at 265
MPH to Nicholson's 5.43 at 256 MPH. Only twelve feet separated the two
cars.

In the second round, Shields took on part-time Top Fuel pilot Scott
Palmer now behind the wheel of an A/Fuel Dragster. "Palmer has been
impressive all weekend and took out the Champ in the first round so I
knew I needed to be on my game to get by him" Shields explained. This
time, Shields took care of both ends of the race track as he had an
0.074 reaction time to Palmer's 0.086 and blasted down the track with
the best ET of the round, a blistering 5.29 at 265 MPH to Palmer's
5.36 at 252 MPH.

Shields received a well deserved bye-run in the semi finals but still
charged to a 5.38 at 262 MPH. "We tried some different things in the
semis but went back to the clutch set up we had that produced the 5.29
in the second round" Shields said.

Shields' final round opponent turned out be California's Chris Demke.
Demke was running on par with Shields so it promised to be a close
race. At the hit, Shields left first with 0.041 reaction time to
Demke's 0.071. Demke then passed Shields before Shields regained the
lead and maintained it until dropping some cylinders at 1000 feet. It
was then that Demke took over the lead and held on for the win. Then,
just past the finish line Shields' engine expired and kicked out some
rods.

Even though Shields lost the race and an engine in the process he
looked at the whole event optimistically. I can't complain, it was a
close back and forth race that could have been a 42 point swing for
us. But, we're in good shape as we still have a lot of races left in
the season. As for the engine, It's worth noting that this was the
first engine we have lost in over three years" Shields observed. The
Shortline Express team would like to once again thank NGK and Hussey
Copper for their support this season.