It was a rare problematic race for Duane Shields and the PEAK team at the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd. The crew worked extra hard having to replace two engines over the course of the weekend. The team started qualifying with a new engine after the crank in the original motor was discovered to be cracked from the prior race in Atco, NJ. The replacement engine performed well enough to get the PEAK A/Fuel Dragster into the middle of a short field with a 5.36 at 264 MPH to qualify 6th.
In round one, Duane raced Canadian racer Gord Gingles. At the launch Duane was out of the gate first before Gingles shook the tires and then got out of the groove and hit a cone. Duane was already charging towards the finish line when he dropped a cylinder but still grabbed the easy win with a 5.44 at 255 MPH.
After winning the first round on Saturday, the PEAK team took advantage of some extra time before round two on Sunday and swapped engines again including a new set of heads.
On Sunday morning with a fresh engine in place the team was ready for the second round of eliminations but morning showers delayed racing until later in the day. Eventually, Duane faced Joey Severance from Woodburn, Oregon who was driving for Norm Grimes. At the hit, Duane was out first with an 0.063 reaction time to Severance’s 0.072. Unfortunately, a clogged nozzle on Duane’s car caused a hose to get loose spilling fuel all over one of Duane’s tires causing him to loose traction and smoke the tires. While the clogged nozzle cost Duane the race, the good news is that it happened at the starting line and not down track where it could have caused a crash.
While Duane was obviously disappointed, he is optimistic that he will have a much better performance at the Chevrolet Performance NHRA US Nationals coming up on labor day weekend. “It was a difficult weekend and going out early hurt us in the national points chase but I’m looking forward to Indy and winning the race with the support of our great sponsors including PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and everyone at Brad Anderson Enterprises” Duane said.
In round one, Duane raced Canadian racer Gord Gingles. At the launch Duane was out of the gate first before Gingles shook the tires and then got out of the groove and hit a cone. Duane was already charging towards the finish line when he dropped a cylinder but still grabbed the easy win with a 5.44 at 255 MPH.
After winning the first round on Saturday, the PEAK team took advantage of some extra time before round two on Sunday and swapped engines again including a new set of heads.
On Sunday morning with a fresh engine in place the team was ready for the second round of eliminations but morning showers delayed racing until later in the day. Eventually, Duane faced Joey Severance from Woodburn, Oregon who was driving for Norm Grimes. At the hit, Duane was out first with an 0.063 reaction time to Severance’s 0.072. Unfortunately, a clogged nozzle on Duane’s car caused a hose to get loose spilling fuel all over one of Duane’s tires causing him to loose traction and smoke the tires. While the clogged nozzle cost Duane the race, the good news is that it happened at the starting line and not down track where it could have caused a crash.
While Duane was obviously disappointed, he is optimistic that he will have a much better performance at the Chevrolet Performance NHRA US Nationals coming up on labor day weekend. “It was a difficult weekend and going out early hurt us in the national points chase but I’m looking forward to Indy and winning the race with the support of our great sponsors including PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and everyone at Brad Anderson Enterprises” Duane said.
