Madison Payne Takes a Close Loss in First Round Action at Indy

Indianapolis - Madison Payne drove the Muscle Milk A/Fuel Dragster at the prestigious Dodge Power Brokers NHRA US Nationals without the guidance of car owner and mentor Duane Shields who is currently traveling abroad.

Madison qualified with a decent 5.30 at 273 MPH to land eighth in an extremely tough 22-car field.

In round one, Madison was paired up with first-time opponent Tom Fox. After Fox backed up from his burnout, there was a long delay in moving his car forward to the starting line. After the cars were staged and the lights came down, Fox was out first with a .029 light to Madison's .075. As the cars flew down the historic Indy track, it was Fox crossing the finish line first with less than a car length to spare. Fox rang up a 5.34 at 268 MPH hole shot to Madison's quicker 5.33 at 272 MPH. "We are gonna start racing people the way they choose to race me. He took 48 seconds and then I had my car on the high side for eight seconds before they staged" Madison said.

On a positive note, Madison described her solo Indy experience this way. "It was a good weekend. The car was really consistent. And a big thanks to Duane for trusting me to race his car without him being here" she said.

Next, the team moves on to the NHRA Pep Boys Nationals in Reading, Pennsylvania where Duane will be back inside the cockpit. Madison would like to thank Muscle Milk, NGK Spark Plugs, GRP connecting Rods, Clean Boost, and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their outstanding support.