Houston - Duane Shields and the Shortline Express team went to Houston looking for a win at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil after a final round appearance in Charlotte. Royal Purple Raceway has traditionally been one of Shields’ favorite tracks as he has done very well there. “We have won in Houston four times. Either I win or I lose a close race like I did to Chase Copeland last year” Shields said.
Shields once again qualified in the top half of the field with a 5.32 at 270 MPH which was good for the fourth qualifying position. This would lead to a first round match up with Matthew Cummings, who had qualified ninth. Cummings was driving one of only two supercharged cars in the field. At the hit, Cummings got off the line first with a 0.098 to Shields’ 0.103. Even with the starting line advantage, Shields was just too much for Cummings as he secured the win with a 5.52 at 268 MPH to Cummings’ close 5.59 at 256 MPH. “Cummings stepped it up and ran well against us” Shields commented.
In the second round, Shields took on Mark Taliaferro who is driving for Tom Conway. “Mark was running the same numbers as we were so we hopped it up since we had to be on our game” Shields said. Taliaferro was off of the line first with a 0.057 to Shields’ 0.091. It was a close race most of the way down the track but Shields was unable to close the gap at the top end and Taliaferro was able to take the win by a car length. Taliaferro stopped the clocks with a 5.35 at 271 MPH to Shields’ valiant 5.36 at 269 MPH. “The engine dropped a cylinder at 3.5 seconds into the run. Had the car run on all eight cylinders we might have seen a different result. We didn't win the race but we sure tried” Shields acknowledged.
Shields once again qualified in the top half of the field with a 5.32 at 270 MPH which was good for the fourth qualifying position. This would lead to a first round match up with Matthew Cummings, who had qualified ninth. Cummings was driving one of only two supercharged cars in the field. At the hit, Cummings got off the line first with a 0.098 to Shields’ 0.103. Even with the starting line advantage, Shields was just too much for Cummings as he secured the win with a 5.52 at 268 MPH to Cummings’ close 5.59 at 256 MPH. “Cummings stepped it up and ran well against us” Shields commented.
In the second round, Shields took on Mark Taliaferro who is driving for Tom Conway. “Mark was running the same numbers as we were so we hopped it up since we had to be on our game” Shields said. Taliaferro was off of the line first with a 0.057 to Shields’ 0.091. It was a close race most of the way down the track but Shields was unable to close the gap at the top end and Taliaferro was able to take the win by a car length. Taliaferro stopped the clocks with a 5.35 at 271 MPH to Shields’ valiant 5.36 at 269 MPH. “The engine dropped a cylinder at 3.5 seconds into the run. Had the car run on all eight cylinders we might have seen a different result. We didn't win the race but we sure tried” Shields acknowledged.
