Shields Takes Big Win to Start the 2021 Season

Belle Rose, LA - The Muscle Milk A/Fuel Dragster team came from behind the eightball to grab a major win at the opening NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series regional event held at No Problem Raceway. "Due to scheduling conflicts, we did not have a chance to test the car this season other than here in Lousiana. Each test run had to be aborted which left us with two qualifying runs and those passes didn't go well either" Duane said. Since there were exactly eight cars, Duane made the show in the eighth and final qualifying position.

In the opening round, Duane raced the number one qualifier, Dan Mercier. Unfortunately for Mercier, he applied a little too much power to the track and smoked the tires. Duane made his first competitive run of the season to take the first-round win with an impressive 5.35 at 272 MPH. "We had to be careful with the power curve because it's a tricky track. Once we learned that and found the right balance the car ran consistently well" Duane said.

In the semifinals, Duane got by Karl Brounkowski by a whisker.Brounkowski, got out of the gate first and was leading Duane at half-track. But then the Dana Hopewell horsepower kicked in and Duane was able to pass him before the finish line in a heart-pounding win. Duane scored a 5.34 at 272 MPH over Brounkowski's valiant 5.40 at 252 MPH to advance to the final round.

In the finals, Duane took on Rachel Meyer. Meyer had to pedal while Duane was on another clean pass and took the victory with a 5.32 at 275 MPH over Meyer's close 5.35 at 278 MPH. Duane was thrilled with the surprise win after a shaky start to begin the weekend. "This was a big win for us and I am very happy how quickly our crew got the car turned around including our two new crew members Zack Wingo and Patrick Browne. Also, a big thanks as always to Cam, Dana, and Sheryl Hopewell" Duane said.

The team now moves on to Florida for back-to-back races in Gainesville beginning with a regional event followed by the season-opening Amalie NHRA Gatornationals. Duane is looking forward to returning to Florida where he has won both the regional and national events multiple times. "We hope to continue the success we had here today when we move on to Gainesville" he said.

Duane is also happy that all of his sponsors have returned for the 2021 season including Muscle Milk, NGK, Brad Anderson Enterprises, GRP Connecting Rods, SRI, and CleanBoost.