The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event held in Las Vegas is the last NHRA regional event of the year and one of the biggest with over 840 cars competing. In additon, most of the Top Alcohol teams stay over from the Toyota NHRA Nationals held the weekend prior to compete one last time on the regional level whether they are in the points hunt or not.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway is Duane Shields’ home track and the PEAK team pulls out all of the stops to qualify for this difficult eight car field where it’s not unusual to see two dozen Top Alcohol Dragsters trying to squeeze into an eight car field. “This is a very tough race. There were teams that went to the final round last weekend that didn’t even qualify for this race” Duane said. To add to the pressure there was a good turn out of local fans and friends that picked up free tickets to the race from Shortline Express stores.
Duane qualified 4th with a 5.320 at 272 MPH and drew Championship contender Joey Severance in the first round. Severance qualified 5th with a nearly identical 5.329 at 266 MPH. As the lights came down Duane was off the line first with a stellar 0.021 reaction time to Severance’s respectable 0.030. As both cars moved off the concrete pad, Severance experienced some tire shake which increased Duane’s lead which he would never relinquish. At the finish line it was Duane taking the win with a 5.34 at 271 MPH to Severance’ 5.76 at 207 MPH.
In round two Duane faced Shawn Cowie, another tough blown alcohol racer from the Northwest Division. At the hit, it was Cowie off the launch pad first with an 0.081 to Duane’s 0.104. Both dragsters were side by side all the way down the Las Vegas strip in an exciting race. At the top end of the track Cowie nipped Duane at the stripe by just inches! “It was a great race. I wish that I would have had a better light but you know what? I'm very happy with the car’s performance and that’s what I look at. We had to sit out the third qualifying session due to a malfunction but we still qualified fourth and we could have easily been bumped out of eliminations had the car not ran so well in the other qualifying sessions” Duane said.
Duane and the PEAK team will now head west to Southern California where they are the defending Auto Club Finals Champions. “The car ran respectable here both weekends and nowwe’ll move on to Pomona and see if we can finish off the year on a high note. We always seem to do well in Pomona. Then we will start getting ready for next year” Duane explained. Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for supporting his team this season.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway is Duane Shields’ home track and the PEAK team pulls out all of the stops to qualify for this difficult eight car field where it’s not unusual to see two dozen Top Alcohol Dragsters trying to squeeze into an eight car field. “This is a very tough race. There were teams that went to the final round last weekend that didn’t even qualify for this race” Duane said. To add to the pressure there was a good turn out of local fans and friends that picked up free tickets to the race from Shortline Express stores.
Duane qualified 4th with a 5.320 at 272 MPH and drew Championship contender Joey Severance in the first round. Severance qualified 5th with a nearly identical 5.329 at 266 MPH. As the lights came down Duane was off the line first with a stellar 0.021 reaction time to Severance’s respectable 0.030. As both cars moved off the concrete pad, Severance experienced some tire shake which increased Duane’s lead which he would never relinquish. At the finish line it was Duane taking the win with a 5.34 at 271 MPH to Severance’ 5.76 at 207 MPH.
In round two Duane faced Shawn Cowie, another tough blown alcohol racer from the Northwest Division. At the hit, it was Cowie off the launch pad first with an 0.081 to Duane’s 0.104. Both dragsters were side by side all the way down the Las Vegas strip in an exciting race. At the top end of the track Cowie nipped Duane at the stripe by just inches! “It was a great race. I wish that I would have had a better light but you know what? I'm very happy with the car’s performance and that’s what I look at. We had to sit out the third qualifying session due to a malfunction but we still qualified fourth and we could have easily been bumped out of eliminations had the car not ran so well in the other qualifying sessions” Duane said.
Duane and the PEAK team will now head west to Southern California where they are the defending Auto Club Finals Champions. “The car ran respectable here both weekends and nowwe’ll move on to Pomona and see if we can finish off the year on a high note. We always seem to do well in Pomona. Then we will start getting ready for next year” Duane explained. Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for supporting his team this season.
