rocketman
Nitro Member
After two national event wins in a row in both Charlotte and Maple Grove, Duane Shields and the PEAK team tried to pull off a trifecta in Dallas at the AAA NHRA Fall Nationals but it wasn’t meant to be this time around. On the bright side, the PEAK Team qualified for the quickest Top Alcohol Dragster field in history with a sizzling 5.27 at 275 MPH which was good for third out of the 20 cars that were vying for a position in the 16 car field. And the team sewed up third place in the national points standings.
In round one, Duane drew Blown Alcohol dragster journeyman Marty Thacker who qualified 14th with a 5.35. At the hit, Thacker was able to pull a rabbit out of his hat with an 0.012 reaction time compared to Duane’s 0.072. Thacker then stayed glued to the famed Texas Motorplex track and crossed the stripe first as Duane was quickly closing the gap but lost by a distance of only 18 feet. Thacker recorded a 5.332 at 265 MPH for the hole shot win over Duane’s slightly quicker 5.317 at 272 MPH. “Thacker is no easy draw in the first round as we learned in Indy. I had a decent light but he had a great light and he made one of his best runs of the weekend against me. He went on to red light in the semifinals so you live by the tree and die by the tree. It just shows you how competitive our class is” Duane Said.
While the first round loss stung a little bit, it didn’t take long for Duane to put the loss behind him and get ready to move on to the final events of the season closer to home. “It’s been a good season. We just locked up third place nationally and we won the Eastern Regional Championship. I look forward to finishing up the year in Las Vegas and then move on to Pomona for the FInals”. Duane would like to thank his sponsors PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for supporting the team in 2015.
In round one, Duane drew Blown Alcohol dragster journeyman Marty Thacker who qualified 14th with a 5.35. At the hit, Thacker was able to pull a rabbit out of his hat with an 0.012 reaction time compared to Duane’s 0.072. Thacker then stayed glued to the famed Texas Motorplex track and crossed the stripe first as Duane was quickly closing the gap but lost by a distance of only 18 feet. Thacker recorded a 5.332 at 265 MPH for the hole shot win over Duane’s slightly quicker 5.317 at 272 MPH. “Thacker is no easy draw in the first round as we learned in Indy. I had a decent light but he had a great light and he made one of his best runs of the weekend against me. He went on to red light in the semifinals so you live by the tree and die by the tree. It just shows you how competitive our class is” Duane Said.
While the first round loss stung a little bit, it didn’t take long for Duane to put the loss behind him and get ready to move on to the final events of the season closer to home. “It’s been a good season. We just locked up third place nationally and we won the Eastern Regional Championship. I look forward to finishing up the year in Las Vegas and then move on to Pomona for the FInals”. Duane would like to thank his sponsors PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for supporting the team in 2015.
