Shields Remains Optimistic After Early Round Losses

Charlotte - Muscle Milk A/Fuel Dragster car owner Duane Shields remains optimistic in spite of some early-round losses in Reading, Charlotte, and a DNQ in Indy where they were the defending champions. The former NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion knows how to win but also understands both the highs and the lows of the often humbling sport of drag racing. "We are not too far out of range at all. It's just that in A/fuel there are a lot of little minute things that can slow you down and end your weekend sooner than would have wanted" Duane said.

In Reading, the Madison Payne driven machine was competitive in a very tough field and qualified ninth with a decent 5.30 at 278 MPH. In round one, Madison raced Jeff Veale who made his best run of the weekend with a 5.24 at 277 MPH to defeat Madison's valiant 5.33 at 277 MPH.

In Charlotte, the Muscle Milk team qualified tenth with a 5.35 at 276 MPH and took on Joe Maynard in round one. Madison lost traction and smoked the tires while Maynard was on a clean run and crossed the finish line with a 5.28 at 272 MPH. "We were just too aggressive on that run. But you know, we can tune the car to run 5.30's all day but we will never win doing that so you have to get aggressive to win. That said, we are heading to Virginia next for a regional event. We will see if we can get a little more conservative with the tune-up while running some competitive numbers" Duane said.

Going into the final Fall quarter of the season the team is focusing on both improvement and having fun. Their next race is scheduled for September 27-28 in Richmond. Duane and Madison would like to thank their sponsors Muscle Milk, GRP Connecting Rods, NGK Spark Plugs, Clean Boost, and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their support in 2024.