Duane Shields ran flawless at the NHRA regional event held at Gainesville Raceway in his PEAK A/Fuel Dragster. The event is a precursor to the Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals held the following weekend. Duane stayed in the ultra competitive 5.20’s on every pass and looked like a favorite to win the race. The problem was everyone else could have been favored to win too as the top seven cars in the eight car field were all in the 5.20 zone. “It’s getting harder as there are no easy rivals. A lot of the best cars are here from out of the region because of the Gatornationals next weekend and to get a good tune up, but we never shy away from the top performing cars” Duane said.
Duane, qualified fourth with an impressive 5.260 at 274 MPH and faced Rich Bourke in the first round. Bourke qualified fifth with a close 5.263 at 274 MPH so it was anyone’s race going into eliminations. As the lights came down on the tree, Bourke got a slight starting line advantage but Duane was right with him the entire length of the track. At the finish line it was Bourke scoring the win with a 5.20 at 279 MPH to Duane’s close 5.26 at 274 MPH. “He saved his best run of the weekend for us. We didn’t expect him to go out and run a 5.20 but he did” Duane said.
This week the team will stay in Gainesville to get ready for the Gatornationals. Duane and the PEAK team will be looking for slight changes to squeeze a little more power out of the car but it won’t be much. “Right now, we are competitive with the top cars but running in the 5.20 and not winning is frustrating. There really isn’t much more room to tune since we’re right at the top now but maybe we can get a little more out of it for the Gators” he said. Duane would like to thank his sponsors PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises.
Duane, qualified fourth with an impressive 5.260 at 274 MPH and faced Rich Bourke in the first round. Bourke qualified fifth with a close 5.263 at 274 MPH so it was anyone’s race going into eliminations. As the lights came down on the tree, Bourke got a slight starting line advantage but Duane was right with him the entire length of the track. At the finish line it was Bourke scoring the win with a 5.20 at 279 MPH to Duane’s close 5.26 at 274 MPH. “He saved his best run of the weekend for us. We didn’t expect him to go out and run a 5.20 but he did” Duane said.
This week the team will stay in Gainesville to get ready for the Gatornationals. Duane and the PEAK team will be looking for slight changes to squeeze a little more power out of the car but it won’t be much. “Right now, we are competitive with the top cars but running in the 5.20 and not winning is frustrating. There really isn’t much more room to tune since we’re right at the top now but maybe we can get a little more out of it for the Gators” he said. Duane would like to thank his sponsors PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises.
