Rain Shortens Duane Shield's Return to Route 66 Raceway

Route 66 Raceway located near Chicago finally opened up its gates to racers and fans alike for a Lucas Oil Regional event after closing indefinitely due to COVID two years ago. Nobody knew when or if the giant stadium-style race track would ever open again. For Duane Shields, it was his first time in the driver's seat of the popular Muscle Milk A-Fuel Dragster after a mid-summer break and he too was looking forward to once again competing at the famous midwest track.

During qualifying, Duane ended up fourth in the tight eight-car field with a decent 5.41 at 270 MPH.
In round one, Duane drew Jared Dreher who had a great .015 light at the starting line but then severely lost traction. Duane also had his hands full in the other lane as his car shook so hard it broke the reverser and the car shut off but coasted through the finish line for the win with an 8.28 at only 105 MPH to advance to the semifinal round on Sunday. Duane was glad to have gotten the round win in spite of the odd circumstances. "We have not had a lucky round win like that all year so we'll take it" Duane said.

Unfortunately, the rain set in on Sunday morning, and the rest of the event will now be concluded in Bowling Green, Kentucky which conflicts with Duane's travel schedule. "We're disappointed we can't make the postponed race in Kentucky but we will be racing in just a couple of weeks" he said. Next, the Muscle Milk team will head for Brainard, MN where Madison Payne will be driving at the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals, August 18-21.

Duane would like to thank Muscle Milk, GRP Connecting Rods, NGK Spark Plugs, Clear Boost, SRI, and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their continued support of his team.