Shields Wins Two NHRA National Events In a Row!

Shortline Express Team Wins in Houston
Shields Wins Two NHRA National Events In a Row!​

Baytown TX March 28, 2009 - For the second time in his career, Duane Shields has won two NHRA national events in a row, this time taking the Top Alcohol Dragster title at the 22nd Annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil in Houston.

As was the case in Gainesville when he won the last event, the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals, Shields qualified in the middle of the pack but felt optimistic all weekend. With only two sessions, Shields qualified eighth with a 5.36 at 265 MPH and shook the tires in doing so. "Going into eliminations I felt pretty good because we shook the tires and still ran a 5.36" Shields said.

In first round Shields faced a tough opponent as he would race former World Champion Arthur Gallant, whom Shields had lost to before. "We knew Art Gallant would be tough so we brought our A-game" Shields said. And boy did Shields bring it, as he ran a 5.28 at 267 MPH to Gallant's 5.53 at 269 MPH. Gallant had to pedal as he smoked the tires, meanwhile Shields was long gone as he took the win.

Going into Sunday, Shields felt good and made no changes to the car even though he faced another difficult opponent in Bill Evans. "Like Art we knew we couldn't afford to take Bill lightly so we had to be on our game once again" said Shields. At the starting line, Shields had a big advantage with a 0.056 light to Evans' 0.156. As the cars left the line Shields' car begin to go into shake but Evans dropped a cylinder. At the finish line it was all Shields with a 5.29 at 271 MPH to Evans' 5.52 at 268 MPH. "The car began to shake so we were fortunate that he dropped a cylinder" Shields said. Back in the pits Shields' crew made some adjustments to the car before the semifinal round.

The opponents just kept getting tougher and in the semifinals Shields would face red-hot Mike Manners who had been out running him in the previous rounds. At the hit Shields again had the advantage with a 0.068 to Manners' 0.096 reaction time. Manners then suffered tire shake and then dropped a cylinder to record a 6.16 at 166 MPH. In the other lane, Shields' adjustments paid off as he ran a 5.30 at 271 MPH on a very smooth pass to earn a final round birth against Chris Demke. Demke in the Peen-rite car has also been running very well and had been in several final rounds prior to the Houston race.

Little did anyone in the grandstands know that the final round of Top Alcohol Dragster would be one of the most exciting rounds of the day. At the light it was all Demke as he left on Shields with a 0.027 to Shields' 0.093. "There was big time glare on my side of the tree and I knew I was late. Demke was ahead and I was thinking that this would be the event where Demke would win his first race. But then he started to get close to the center line and knocked out the timing block. He then got back in his lane and I knew I had won as I drove by him and pulled the chutes. After I got out of the car I found out from viewing the ESPN footage that after I drove by Demke he got back in my lane again and was behind me as I pulled the chutes. Fortunately he was far enough behind not to get tangled in my chutes. We were both lucky nobody got hurt. " Shields said.

Since Demke crossed the centerline he was automatically disqualified. Shields ran a 5.36 at 271 MPH on his way to earning the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals title. This wasn't the first time that Shields had a close call in the final round at Houston. In 2002 Shields was in route to the title during the final round when a bolt broke causing the steering column to come a part. "The steering wheel rod separated so I had no steering at all. During the run I was able to slip the steering wheel rod back on the spline and get control of the car once again. Houston is my lucky track when it comes to close calls" Shields said after the win.

Shields celebrated a hard fought victory and was glad to have won again in Houston in front of a special member of his family. "This weekend I brought out my step mom, Tree. I was glad she could be here when we won. The crew had a good weekend as well" Shields said as he thanked the team that includes: Dana and Sheryl Hopewell, Bill Jones, Ralph Freeman and Chris Zedaker. The Shortline Express team also thanks its sponsors Hussey Copper and NGK Spark Plugs.

Next Week's Scheduled Event:
Next week the team will b e back east again, this time racing at the Division 2 event at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Cecil GA. To avoid having to make up a divisional they chose the South Georgia race rather than race at their home track in Las Vegas. It's a new schedule for the team as they are claiming points in the South East Division.