Shields Looks Back on 2014 Season

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association
Photo courtesy of David Smith/PSA

You know you've had a good career when you win four times and it's almost an off year.

Duane Shields went winless over a dozen mid-season races in 2014 – a full season for most people – but still ended up sixth in the Top Alcohol Dragster national standings with what turned out to be another solid season: five final-round appearances and four wins – two at national events and two at regionals.

"The beginning of the year and the end were good, but the middle took me right out of the championship," says Shields, who topped the national standings at times this season and is in title contention year after year. "We ran out of clutch discs, had to replace them with a different kind, and went into smoke-the-tires mode. We kept backing the car down, thinking we were overpowering the track, and in the end, smoking the tires had nothing to do with the tune-up – it was the discs all along. That's why we went to so many extra races this year – to figure out what the problem was."

No TAD or TAFC team ran more races in 2014 than Shields' 20. He doubled up at Gainesville in in March, taking the rain-delayed Houston regional that was completed Saturday during Gainesville qualifying and the Gatornationals on Sunday. He then went seven months and 12 straight races without getting to a final, low-lighted by a dismal stretch of just two round-wins in eight races, and completely turned it around with four semifinal appearances in the next five races, including back-to-back finals and a third Gainesville win at the East Region closer.

"Drag racing is all about highs and lows, and if the lows weren't so low, the highs wouldn't be so high," says Shields, a former sand-drag racer who's pretty much seen it all in 17 years on the quarter-mile. "I've been humbled a few times over the years, believe me. I went from winning the championship [in 2011] to not hitting my ass the next year or the year after that. I kinda got used to winning at least a couple of races every year, but the problem with winning is that it just makes you want to win more."

For such an up-and-down season, Shields' overall win-loss mark was a more than respectable 26-14. "[Crew chief] Dana [Hopewell] has a tune-up that's easy on parts, and we have a tight maintenance schedule and not much parts destruction," says Shields, who finished in the Top 10 for the eighth time in the past nine years. "You have to have the right parts and the right people or you're never going to get anywhere. It's a team sport, and it takes time to develop a great group of people like this that can win races and give you a car that's always put together right and safe to drive. They're supportive, and you really need that during the down times, which there were plenty of this year. I didn't have any luck at all until I got to Pomona."

At the season-ending NHRA Finals, Shields had, as he puts it, "nothing but luck." He qualified in the bottom half of the field and drew the second-ranked driver in the country, Joey Severance, who had just swept both the regional and national events at Las Vegas, in the first round. "It wasn't looking too good, and you always know Joey's probably going to cut a light on you, but he red-lighted that time [barely, a with -.004 reaction time]," says Shields, who won all four rounds without ever having lane choice.

"The only thing we did at Pomona was go down the track, but sometimes just doing that every time is more important than anything, and when you win that last race of the year, it stays with you and really keeps you going," says Shields, who lives in Las Vegas but regularly competes thousands of miles from home in the East Region. "Drag racing really takes a lot weeks out of your year. Time just goes flying by. Sometimes, I wonder why I ever even got into it in the first place – I'd have tons more money, that's for sure, if I hadn't. I used to go to the lake, go ATVing, do all kinds of stuff. You start racing ... that's over. Sometimes, you sit back and ask yourself, 'I'm spending how much money to run 5.3 seconds?' It's hard to justify the expense, but in racing, running my convenience stores – anything I do, really – I want to win. I'm competitive. I won my first national event [Sonoma in 1999] pretty early in my career, but it took me years to win another one, and every time you win you wonder if it'll ever happen again."

Shields typically doesn't have to wait too long. He was the only driver to win a national event every year from 2002 to 2012, including multiple titles in 2002, when he was runner-up for the national championship, and 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2011. And he's won big both ways: in both blown-alcohol and A/Fuel dragsters. He set the national record at 5.26 more than a dozen years ago with a blown alcohol car, but won Indy and a championship on nitro.

"The blown-alcohol car was way more fun to drive, but the expense factor was getting out of control, even 10 years ago," he says. "I was looking at if I was going to even continue racing or not. The A/Fuel combination was out there, but I didn't know much about it. We'd already run 5.20s on alcohol, but everybody kept telling me how much cheaper A/Fuel is once you got it figured out, and they were right. I'd never go back."

So how many years does he have left? "I don't know," Shields says. "It's still fun. I know I'm out here for at least a couple more years with Peak. I keep thinking I'm getting toward the end, but I'm still out here. I know one thing: I wouldn't go to a race if I didn't think I could win. Never have, never will."

Shields Scores 20th National Event Win at 50th Auto Club Finals

Courtesy of Rich Bailey

Pomona - Duane Shields won the 50th Annual NHRA Auto Club Finals which closed the book on a great season for the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster team. The win marked Duane's fourth victory of the season, landing him in sixth place overall in the final Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series national point standings.

The Finals win stacks up as a career highlight and Duane's 20th national event victory. Prior to Sunday, Duane had never won the Finals as it was always an elusive race so the team was happy to finally win the event. “This is awesome to go into the off season with a win at the 50th anniversary Finals. This win is for PEAK, NGK Spark Plugs, GRP Connecting Rods and Brad Anderson Enterprises along with all my guys including Ralph Freeman who passed away last year," Duane acknowledged.

Duane qualified 9th with a 5.33 @ 266 MPH and faced red hot Joey Severance who swept the last two races in Las Vegas. At the starting line Severance went red by .004 and then shut off after rattling the tires. Meanwhile, the PEAK Dragster shook hard but Duane still found a way to get it done with a 5.41 @ 260 MPH to advance into the second round.

In round two, Duane got by Chase Copeland with a 5.59 at 256 MPH. Duane dropped a cylinder on the run but it didn’t matter as Copeland lost traction off the starting line and aborted the run.

Next up was a semi-final battle between Duane and Aaron Olivarez. At the hit, it was Duane out of the box first with an .058 light to Olivarez’s .076. As Olivarez began to lose traction, Duane was on his best pass of the weekend as he ripped open a 5.29 at 272 MPH for a trip to the final round. “It was a good pass but I had to pedal it,” Duane said.

In the finals, Duane faced Cameron Ferre who ran consistently quicker on each of the prior rounds so Duane had to bring his "A" game. At the hit, Duane was again out first with a 0.052 to Ferre’s 0.061. As the cars thundered towards the finish line, both dragsters began to drop cylinders but Duane held a sizable lead and crossed the stripe for his first NHRA Auto Club Finals title. “I should have pedaled it but I was on an adrenaline rush. But, the way we won this race was to get down the track on every pass. Some days the breaks go your way which they did today and sometimes you can run really well but you don’t get the win,” Duane said.

Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for a great year in 2014.

Duane Shields and PEAK A/Fuel Dragster Go Two Rounds at Indy

Courtesy of Rich Bailey

Nate Van Wagnen photo



At the 60th annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, it was two races in one for Duane Shields. Beside competing for the US National title, he had a little bit of unfinished business to attend to as the NHRA ran the final two rounds of the Lucas Oil Nationals from Brainerd during qualifying.

Duane was competing against Randy Meyer in the postponed semi-final round. At the start, Duane had to pedal the car but still had a super close race along side Meyer. At the other end it was Meyer taking the win with a 5.32 to Duane’s close 5.35.

Duane was then able to concentrate on winning the prestigious US Nationals title. In round one, Duane who qualified ninth with a 5.35 at 265 MPH faced Ashley Sanford. At the hit, Sanford red lit and then shook the tires. Duane went on to make a very smooth run after battling tire shake most of the weekend. Duane recorded a 5.37 at 263 MPH to advance to round two.

In the second round, Duane was determined to return the favor from his earlier defeat as he again faced Randy Meyer. As the lights came down, Duane was out of the gate first with an 0.050 to Meyer’s slower 0.094. Duane then experienced some early tire shake but was able to still make a race out of it. At the stripe, Meyer won a close one again as he rung up a 5.31 at 269 MPH to Duane’s valiant 5.37 at 268 MPH. The margin of victory for Meyer was just .0128 of a second.

Duane was very disappointed with the loss but happy with his team's effort. “The only reason we go to Indy is to win and Randy Meyer got me twice this weekend. We gave it a good effort but Indy plays out differently than other races so you never know what’s going to happen. We faced some of the best competition out there so we had the tune up on the edge and it was either going to work or it wasn't” Duane said.

Duane would like to congratulate Jay and Shelly Payne and the entire PEAK Top Alcohol Funny Car team on there big win at Indy as well as thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for all of their support in 2014.

Red-Hot Duane Shields Cools off Slightly in Round Two at Four-Wide Nationals

Courtesy of Rich Bailey

(Concord, N.C.) The PEAK A/Fuel Dragster continued to perform in competitive style at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals until round two where Duane Shields lost a very close race to Jackie Fricke. The PEAK Team ran well throughout qualifying as Duane put the PEAK Dragster in the number two position with a 5.25 at 275 MPH. The success in qualifying naturally spurred confidence that the PEAK Team would do well in eliminations.

In round one, Duane faced number 15 qualifier Dan Page. At the hit, Page got a sizable lead out of the hole but the “PEAK Express” ran like a cruise missile and passed Page at the 330 foot mark and held on to win the round with a respectable 5.34 at 272 MPH to Page’s competitive 5.47 at 263 MPH. “The car shook a little bit so I had to give it a quick pedal" Duane said.

Duane then moved on to the second round to race Jackie Fricke. At the hit, Fricke got a slight lead off the line with an 0.47 reaction time to Duane's 0.60 but he was still right there with her as they raced all the way down the 1,320. Both cars were side by side but Frickie got the win by just four feet as both cars ran nearly identical ETs. Duane was just a fraction quicker and posted a 5.364 at 267 MPH to Fricke’s 5.368 at 264 MPH. “We both had good lights and she ran really well. Since the car shook slightly on the last qualifying pass and because I had to pedal in the first round we made a timing and clutch adjustment. The two adjustments slowed us down a little too much and it gave us our slowest run of the weekend. Only one adjustment was needed".

Even though Duane lost in the quarterfinals he was still upbeat. “You know, when your 5.36 is your slowest run of the weekend you have to feel pretty good that you have a competitive and consistent car that can get down most tracks. We have never done real well in Charlotte even though we have made it to the final round here once before”. The PEAK team now moves on to Houston where they won the regional event earlier in the season. Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises.

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.

PEAK Team Shows Improvement from Start to Finish at Las Vegas

Courtesy of Rich Bailey

Las Vegas - Duane Shields and the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster team returned to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, their home track, for the Toyota NHRA Nationals.  Besides striving to win the event, the race also served as a test session for the 2014 season.

A well attended memorial for PEAK crew member Ralph Freeman also happened at the Vegas race on Saturday night after qualifying. Many west coast racers showed their respect by gathering at the PEAK Racing pit area to say goodbye to their friend and competitor. Some funny stories were exchanged while racers and crew members enjoyed a BBQ rib dinner.

The Toyota Nationals field was stout as 21 cars were fighting to get into a 16 car field which ended up with a quick 5.57 bump spot. Duane had an opening run of 5.58 seconds to put him on the bump spot but then improved to a 5.53 in the final round of qualifying to get him into the field as the 15th qualifier.

In the first round, Duane faced the recently crowned Champion and number two qualifier, Jim Whiteley. Unfortunately for Duane, Whiteley saved his best run for round one and stopped the clock with a 5.28 at 271 MPH to grab the win over Duane’s best pass of the weekend, a 5.48 at 256 MPH. “We made some progress since we started out with a 5.58 and ended with a 5.48. We will continue to be in test mode as we look forward to the regional event here this coming weekend” Duane said.

Fans who want a double shot of Las Vegas drag racing action can go to any Shortline Market this week and pick up a free ticket for Saturday’s qualifying action. There are eleven Shortline stores in the Las Vegas metro area.

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 continued support.

PEAK Team Somberly Continues on at Maple Grove

Courtesy of Rich Bailey

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.

 

Duane Shields Makes it to the Semifinals in Seattle

Courtesy of Rich Bailey

Duane Shields driving the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster returned to his competitive ways by going some rounds and making it to the Semifinals at the O’Reilly NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent Washington, just south of Seattle. “We are certainly making progress although two more round wins today would have been better” Duane said summing up his weekend in Seattle.

Duane qualified fifth with a strong 5.35 at 265 MPH and faced Oregon competitor Joey Severance in the first round. Severance beat Duane in their prior match up at Woodburn so Duane was looking to rebound. At the hit, Duane was off the starting line first with an 0.040 to Severance’s  0.077. Severance was never able to catch up as Duane took the stripe with a 5.41 at 254 MPH to Severance’s 5.74 at only 195 MPH

In round two, Duane took on Johnny Ahten who drives a nitro burning A/Fuel Dragster.  At the hit, Ahten had a slightly better reaction time but that would not matter as the PEAK team was on their game. Ahten began dropping cylinders right off the line while Duane cruised to a solid win. Duane posted a 5.43 a 260 MPH to Ahten’s 5.58 at 257 MPH.

In the semifinals, Duane faced red hot Shawn Cowie, the winner of the Woodburn Regional event. Duane got the advantage off the starting line, however, he smoked the tires giving Cowie a sizable lead. Cowie laid down a 5.33 at 267 MPH to Duane’s 6.45 at 262 MPH. “We wanted to repeat what we did in the second round but as it gets hotter it’s harder to generate the power. Sill, we needed an extra tenth and we gave it a little too much clutch and it smoked the tires" Duane explained.

It was a great weekend for PEAK as each of their teams went to the semifinals and Dan Fletcher doubled up in both Stock and Super Stock. Duane would like to thank 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.

Duane Shields Makes Progress at Cordova

Courtesy of Rich Bailey

After fighting traction problems at the last couple of events, Duane Shields’ PEAK A/Fuel Dragster was able to successfully get down the legendary Cordova Dragway quarter mile without smoking the tires on any of his runs. Duane was a surprise entrant at the Summer Showdown which is a Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Regional event.

Duane qualified sixth with a 5.55 at 250 MPH. His qualifying would have been even better but he dropped a cylinder on the run at 3.1 seconds.

The conditions going into the first round were not favorable as Duane would meet Gord Gingles who also raced a nitro fueled dragster. The temperature was 85 degrees and 85 percent humidity. As a result, the corrected altitude went up 1000 feet. As the tree came down Duane blinked at the wrong time which slowed his start off the line significantly and Gingles was able to get the lead and maintain it. At the stripe it was Gingles with a quicker 5.63 @ 256 MPH to Duane’s close 5.66 @ 253 MPH.

Next week, the team rejoins the Mello Yello tour in Chicago at the O’Reilly Route 66 Nationals. 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.