Duane Shields Makes it to Quarter Finals at US Nationals

Duane Shields in the Muscle Milk A/Fuel Dragster had an overall decent outing at the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA US Nationals but was looking for a second Indy title. The Top Alcohol classes were limited to just two qualifying rounds prior to eliminations which limited the tuner's ability to get too aggressive. On the first qualifier, Duane got in the show as the eighth seed with a 5.32 at 276 MPH. Duane would drop to ninth when he smoked the tires on the second and final qualifying round. "The first qualifier was petty good but the second run we gave it too much power" Duane said.

In round one, Duane would face Tom Fox in a wild first-round match up. At the hit, Fox got off the line first with a .063 reaction time to Duane's .072. But then Duane smoked the tires and got a little out of shape and moved around the track. Fox was able to capitalize on Duane's loss of traction and stayed even but then lost a blower belt. Duane was able to regain traction and hold the lead all the way to the finish line. Duane scored a 5.90 at 255 MPH win to Fox's 7.31 at only 123 MPH to move on to the next round. "The car left good but then shuttered and smoked the tires. I was able to peddle it, save the run and get the win" Duane explained.

In the quarter-finals, Duane was paired up with Canadian Shawn Cowie. At the hit, Duane got off the starting line first with a .092 to Cowie's .100 but Cowie was on a lethal run and stopped the clock with a sizzling 5.16 run at 280 MPH to Duane's very respectable 5.23 at 279 MPH. "Naturally we were disappointed but the car ran good and we leave Indy with a competitive car" Duane said.

Next, the team will head to Gainesville, Florida for the re-running of the NHRA Gatornationals, September 26-27. Duane would like to thank Muscle Milk, NGK, SRI, GRP, CleanBoost, and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their support.