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.

 

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.