(Phoenix) Duane Shields and the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster team competed at the Phoenix NHRA regional event held at the recently refurbished Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park to start a three race road trip.
In qualifying, the bump spot in Top Alcohol Dragster was a stout 5.45 so everyone in the class had to bring their “A game” just to qualify. Duane got in the show with a respectable 5.37 at 259 MPH to qualify 6th. Duane’s 5.37 sealed the deal during the final qualifying session as the two previous runs, a 5.59 and 5.58 were slowed by mechanical malfunctions and were not quick enough to get in the field.
On Saturday night it had rained so the track would be a guessing game for not only the PEAK team but the rest of the field during the first round of eliminations. Duane faced number 3 qualifier Joey Severance who had qualified with a strong 5.31 at 265 MPH.Unfortunately for Duane, Severance had lane choice and naturally took the best lane which would ultimately be a factor in the race.
At the hit, both drivers left close to the same time with Severance getting a slight advantage off the line with a .052 to Duane’s .055. But at .65 seconds into the run Duane smoked the tires while Severance was on a clean run and won the round. "The computer showed we almost made it but we were a hair too aggressive and we were just over center or we would have made a good run” Duane explained.
Even though it was a challenging weekend, Duane is happy that the car is running well to start off the three race trip which will take the team to Houston next weekend for another regional event and then on to Gainesville the following week for the NHRA Gatornationals.
Duane would like to thank his marketing partners PEAK Antifreeze, Peak Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their support.
In qualifying, the bump spot in Top Alcohol Dragster was a stout 5.45 so everyone in the class had to bring their “A game” just to qualify. Duane got in the show with a respectable 5.37 at 259 MPH to qualify 6th. Duane’s 5.37 sealed the deal during the final qualifying session as the two previous runs, a 5.59 and 5.58 were slowed by mechanical malfunctions and were not quick enough to get in the field.
On Saturday night it had rained so the track would be a guessing game for not only the PEAK team but the rest of the field during the first round of eliminations. Duane faced number 3 qualifier Joey Severance who had qualified with a strong 5.31 at 265 MPH.Unfortunately for Duane, Severance had lane choice and naturally took the best lane which would ultimately be a factor in the race.
At the hit, both drivers left close to the same time with Severance getting a slight advantage off the line with a .052 to Duane’s .055. But at .65 seconds into the run Duane smoked the tires while Severance was on a clean run and won the round. "The computer showed we almost made it but we were a hair too aggressive and we were just over center or we would have made a good run” Duane explained.
Even though it was a challenging weekend, Duane is happy that the car is running well to start off the three race trip which will take the team to Houston next weekend for another regional event and then on to Gainesville the following week for the NHRA Gatornationals.
Duane would like to thank his marketing partners PEAK Antifreeze, Peak Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their support.
