Duane Shields Goes to Final Round in Pursuit of the Championship

Courtesy of Rich Bailey

Reynolds GA - As the season winds down, the points towards the NHRA Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster Championship title becomes ever so important. Contenders can only claim a limited amount of points towards the Championship at both national and divisional events which means strategy comes into play on which races to run.

Duane Shields was down to just one LODRS divisional even to claim points and chose the race at Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds, GA. Duane's strategy seemd to work as he made it to the final round but lost the race to the reigning Champion Bill Reichert, who had been eliminated from contention two weeks prior in Maple Grove.

Duane qualified second with a 5.38 and faced Dan Page in round one. Page's 5.35 was close but not enough to get the win over Shields who nipped Page at the finish line with a victorious 5.31 at 273 MPH.

Moving into the semifinals, the Shortline Express team took on Brandon Booher. Unfortunately for Booher, he was unable to fire so Duane got a single and charged to the finish line with a 5.42, but shuttered the tires on the run. "The car shook violently and we lost our data going into the final round because the cables shook loose. We knew we had to massage the car in order to negotiate the track so we took away some of the power. We just didn't know how much" Shields revealed.

In the finals, it was a classic Duane Shields vs. Bill Reichert match up. As the lights came down it was Reichert out first with a .070 to Shields' .082. At the finish line it was Reichert crossing the stripe first with a 5.35 at 265 MPH to Duane's 5.43 at 271 MPH. "The car didn't have enough horsepower to win but it still shuttered the tires a little bit so we were limited to what adjustments we could make and how much power we could take out" Shields said.

All Duane can do now is compete at the last three races and serve as a blocker by taking out the other still mathematically in contention. "The pressure is on them now. I'll go to the last three races and try to control my own destiny. If the Championship is meant to be, it's meant to be. If not it was still a great year. Duane would like to thank NGK Spark Plugs and Hussey Copper for their support.