(West Lebanon NY) For the second race in a row, Duane Shields in the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster was the number one qualifier. This time he sat on the pole at Lebanon Valley Dragway for the NHRA Lucas Oil Regional where 14 cars were competing to fill a tough eight car field. Rain plagued the event on Friday so qualifying was shifted to Saturday and eliminations took place on Sunday.
Duane ran a 5.34 in the first session to qualify in the top position. Then in the second and last session he hit the afterburners to record a blistering 5.28 at 271 MPH. “It’s great that we were able to qualify no.1 two races in a row. Division 1 has the best cars in the country so we are very proud of that accomplishment” Duane said.
Duane's first round pairing was with Dan Mercier who had squeaked into the field in the eighth position. At the launch both cars lost traction. Duane was about to abort the run but hit the throttle when he realized Mercier had also lost traction but the car got crossed up and there was nothing he could do to recover. Meanwhile, Mercier was finally able to hook up and take the win with a 6.49 at 256 MPH while Duane idled though.
The PEAK team didn't expect to lose traction at the starting line since it appeared that the conditions had not changed from the day before. “We were stunned. We have not smoked the tires in eliminations since the second race of the year and we backed it down expecting to run in the thirties to prevent this from happening. Normally, I can pedal it but this is the first time the car would not recover. But congratulations to Jackie Fricke for getting her first Lucas Oil Regional win” Duane said.
Next, the PEAK team heads to Chicago for the O’Reilly Route 66 NHRA Nationals. “This is also an All Star race which we are not in but we will still be competing against the best cars in the country and this is PEAK’s home territory so we want to do a good job representing them” he said. Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze, PEAK Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises.
Duane ran a 5.34 in the first session to qualify in the top position. Then in the second and last session he hit the afterburners to record a blistering 5.28 at 271 MPH. “It’s great that we were able to qualify no.1 two races in a row. Division 1 has the best cars in the country so we are very proud of that accomplishment” Duane said.
Duane's first round pairing was with Dan Mercier who had squeaked into the field in the eighth position. At the launch both cars lost traction. Duane was about to abort the run but hit the throttle when he realized Mercier had also lost traction but the car got crossed up and there was nothing he could do to recover. Meanwhile, Mercier was finally able to hook up and take the win with a 6.49 at 256 MPH while Duane idled though.
The PEAK team didn't expect to lose traction at the starting line since it appeared that the conditions had not changed from the day before. “We were stunned. We have not smoked the tires in eliminations since the second race of the year and we backed it down expecting to run in the thirties to prevent this from happening. Normally, I can pedal it but this is the first time the car would not recover. But congratulations to Jackie Fricke for getting her first Lucas Oil Regional win” Duane said.
Next, the PEAK team heads to Chicago for the O’Reilly Route 66 NHRA Nationals. “This is also an All Star race which we are not in but we will still be competing against the best cars in the country and this is PEAK’s home territory so we want to do a good job representing them” he said. Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze, PEAK Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises.
