Duane Shields Wins Big at Gainesville

Courtesy of Rich Bailey

(Gainesville FL) Duane Shields cleaned house in Gainesville and took home just about everything in the Top Alcohol Dragster class that wasn’t nailed down. It was a flawless double victory at the NHRA Amalie Oil Gatornationals for Duane driving the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster. “The car is now responding very well to our tuning and we are able to hop it up when needed and tune it to the track conditions. The car is running good which also gives us a chance to learn more,” Duane explained.

On Friday, before setting his sights on his third Gatornationals title, Duane won the postponed Houston Regional Top Alcohol Dragster final. In that race, Duane took an easy win over Mike Strasburg who lost traction at the starting line. Duane posted a 5.28 which was also low ET for the second round of qualifying.

Duane qualified 4th overall with a 5.28 at 272 MPH which set up a first round meeting against Dan Page driving Art Gallant’s car. At the hit Duane was out of the gate first and scored a 5.36 at 272 MPH win over Page’s 5.43 at 263 MPH. “They made a very good run against us and we were side by side all the way down,” Duane said.

In round two, Duane took on Matthew Cummings. Cummings was noticeably late off the line and again it was another total domination for the PEAK team as they advanced to the semi finals with a 5.38 at 272 MPH over Cumming’s 5.95 at 197 MPH.

In the semi finals, it was a race between two former National Champions, Bill Reichert and Duane Shields. Both drivers proved why they are former champs since they had identical reaction times as both cars left the line with 0.75 lights. Reichert managed a slight lead but Duane grabbed the lead at 330 feet out and never looked back as Reichert dropped a cylinder. Duane took the win with a 5.30 at 273 MPH over Reichert’s 5.43 at 262 MPH. “That was a critical race and we left at the same time. Bill had some slight problems but we were able to make it all the way down the track with a strong run,” Duane said.

In the finals, Duane raced the Gatornationals’ defending event champion, Rich McPhillips. At the hit McPhillips got a sizable starting line advantage but then he began to drop cylinders. As was the case in the previous round, Duane was able to gain enough momentum to blast past his opponent and take the win with another consistent and highly competitive run. Duane won the Gatornationals title with a 5.33 at 266 MPH over McPhillips’ 5.47 at 261 MPH. “Rich was my toughest opponent all weekend. I saw his car next to me for a long time. I dropped a cylinder and I was holding on to the steering wheel hoping he wouldn’t pass me at the finish line,” Duane said after the win.

Duane is not only happy that he now has a consistent car, he is excited that some of his new crew members finally got to celebrate a win. “Some of my newer crew members have never won a Wally before so this win is for them to enjoy,” he said. Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises.