Duane Shields Reaches Houston Quarterfinals

Courtesy of Rich Bailey

Houston TX - Even with a lot of distractions such as a shuffled schedule and a monsoon Saturday afternoon, the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster showed some much needed improvement as the team picked up a round win to advance to the quarterfinals in Houston, Texas at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals.

Duane qualified 9th with a 5.82 at 236 MPH and was paired in round one with Aaron Olivarez who qualified 6th with a 5.48.  At the hit, Olivarez got out of the hole first but Duane was able to pass him at 400 feet when Olivarez began dropping cylinders. Duane was able to increase his lead and take the win light with a winning time of 5.48 at 265 MPH to Olivarez's 6.04.

In the Quarterfinals, Duane faced Randy Meyer. As the lights came down, Meyer left first with Duane in hot pursuit. It was a close race all the way to the finish line but Meyer tripped the beam first and would go on to win the event. Meyer recorded a 5.42 at 268 MPH to Duane’s close 5.45 at 264 MPH. “The track was a little tricky and I had to pedal in the first round so I backed it down before the second round to avoid going up in smoke. Unfortunately, we backed it down a little too much but hindsight is always 20/20” Duane said. 

The PEAK team has taken delivery of a new chassis and will debut it in Topeka, at the NHRA Summer Nationals. “I feel pretty good today that we are getting our momentum back. The car left the line without any traction problems and we should be in good shape by the time we are ready to make some runs in the new car” Duane explained. 

Duane would like to thank his sponsors: PEAK Motor Oil, PEAK Antifreeze, Herculiner Truck Bed Liners, Blue DEF Diesel Exhaust Fluid and FINAL Charge Heavy Duty Truck Antifreeze, GRP Connecting Rods, NGK Spark Plugs, Molinari Race Products, Sierra Ice and Shortline Markets for their support.