Duane Shields and the PEAK Racing Team
usually have a great weekend with a large following of friends and fans at the
Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals in Reading, PA. But this time it was a somber event at
Maple Grove Raceway because it was their first race back on the tour since
losing their long time teammate, Ralph Freeman, who peacefully passed away in
his sleep two weeks ago. “This was our
first race back without Ralph and we really missed him a lot.” Duane said.
On Saturday night, a memorial was held
in the pits for east coast racers and between 75 to 100 people showed up to say
goodbye to a well-respected member of the Top Alcohol Dragster fraternity. At
the Las Vegas Nationals there will be another memorial for west coast racers.
That event is also planned for Saturday night.
One of the high points on the racing
side was that the team hung in there and got the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster into the
show. After all, seven very good teams did not make the solid sixteen car
field. Duane qualified sixteenth with a 5.52 at 256 MPH. “We were number 9
after the first session, then we moved to 10th after the second, and then in
the final qualifying session we smoked the tires and dropped to 16th so it
didn’t put us in a very good position going into the first round,” he said.
In round one, Duane took on number one
qualifier Brandon Booher, from Urbana IL. Booher ran a 5.30, so it would be a
challenge, but not insurmountable to beat him. As the lights came down on the Christmas
tree, Duane got the starting line advantage with an 0.54 to Booher’s 0.59 but
Booher was able to overpower Shields and take a narrow lead and then maintained
it all the way to the finish line.
Duane emphasized that qualifying higher
would have allowed the team to advance into the next round. “We would have won
the match up with number 2, 3, or 4 qualifier, so it’s just how the
circumstances worked out. But I was glad to see Robin Samsel win his first ever
national event. We will now move on to Vegas to try a whole new engine
combination and test some other new things to get ready for 2014”
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 and Shortline Markets for their
support.
Ralph Freeman Memorial
Ralph was born and raised in San Diego,
California where he retired as a roofing contractor after selling his business.
He was preceded in death by his father, mother, and sister, George, Edna Mae,
and Laurie. He is survived by his twin brothers, Larry and Gary Freeman. After
his retirement from roofing, he went to work as a machinist working on drive
line and transmission components for race cars.
In high school, Ralph was a baseball
player that was driven to win. He was competitive in all his activities. Cars
and racing were a huge part of Ralph’s life. He was heavily involved in NHRA
drag racing. It was there, as an owner, he was a two-time Super Comp Champion.
He moved from that class to become one of the pioneering crew members in A/Fuel
racing, where he worked as a clutch specialist. With Chess Bushey, and Rick Henkelman,
he continued winning, collecting several Wallys along the way. In 2011, as part
of Duane Shields’ racing operation, he won the Top Alcohol Dragster National
Championship. It was in 2012, while being the crew chief for Duane, Ralph got
his final National event win, the biggest race in the series, the U.S.
Nationals.
Ralph Freeman brought laughter to this
world, and touched many lives around him with his humor. He always had a way of
telling it like it was, in the most comical of ways. A fierce racer he way, but
his friends always came first. He enjoyed his time with the people he
considered his family, living life to its fullest.
Ralph will forever be in our hearts,
missed, but never forgotten. He was a true CHAMPION! A BIG guy with a BIG
heart.
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