Las Vegas - After racing all over the country, Duane Shields and the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster team returned to their home track for the NHRA Toyota Nationals hoping to produce another win in front of their hometown friends and fans. Even though the team fell short of a win they still had a pretty good weekend qualifying well and making it out of the dreaded first round. "Over all it was a pretty good weekend. Executives from PEAK were at the race and we had our racer appreciation dinner which was fun and well attended" Duane said.
Duane qualified ninth for the Vegas field with a 5.405 at 262 MPH which was respectable considering that there were 22 cars fighting to get into a 16 car field.
In round one, Duane went up against Dan Mercier who qualified eighth with a nearly identical 5.406 so it was any one's race. As the cars left the starting line it was Duane out first with a .077 to Mercier's .086. Duane's car shook but he was able to pedal it in time to recover and maintain his lead by a wide margin. In the other lane, Mercier smoked the tires and tried to get back in it but he was too late as Duane stopped the clock with a 5.42 at 256 MPH to grab the win.
In the quarter finals, Duane faced number 1 qualifier Johnny Ahten. As the lights came down it was Ahten out first with an 0.077 to Duane's 0.087. As the cars began to gain speed, Duane began to lose traction and aborted the pass when Ahten's lead became insurmountable. Duane, who never had lane choice was in the right lane where it shook once again. "The A/Fuel cars were having some trouble in the right lane at the transition. I might have been able to pedal and made a race out of it had I noticed the shake a little sooner. But it's always a challenge to do real well at your home track" Duane said.
Next weekend, the PEAK Team will be back at Las Vegas for what is usually the largest and last Lucas Oil Series regional event in the country. "We will be bringing out our World Championship car to get it ready to sell so that should be fun" Duane said. Free admission tickets for Saturday are available at all Short Line Express Markets. Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for all of their support this season.
Duane qualified ninth for the Vegas field with a 5.405 at 262 MPH which was respectable considering that there were 22 cars fighting to get into a 16 car field.
In round one, Duane went up against Dan Mercier who qualified eighth with a nearly identical 5.406 so it was any one's race. As the cars left the starting line it was Duane out first with a .077 to Mercier's .086. Duane's car shook but he was able to pedal it in time to recover and maintain his lead by a wide margin. In the other lane, Mercier smoked the tires and tried to get back in it but he was too late as Duane stopped the clock with a 5.42 at 256 MPH to grab the win.
In the quarter finals, Duane faced number 1 qualifier Johnny Ahten. As the lights came down it was Ahten out first with an 0.077 to Duane's 0.087. As the cars began to gain speed, Duane began to lose traction and aborted the pass when Ahten's lead became insurmountable. Duane, who never had lane choice was in the right lane where it shook once again. "The A/Fuel cars were having some trouble in the right lane at the transition. I might have been able to pedal and made a race out of it had I noticed the shake a little sooner. But it's always a challenge to do real well at your home track" Duane said.
Next weekend, the PEAK Team will be back at Las Vegas for what is usually the largest and last Lucas Oil Series regional event in the country. "We will be bringing out our World Championship car to get it ready to sell so that should be fun" Duane said. Free admission tickets for Saturday are available at all Short Line Express Markets. Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for all of their support this season.
