PEAK Team Repeats Gainesville Regional Win

PEAK Team Repeats Gainesville Regional Win

Alligators and palm trees must be Duane Shields’ good luck charm since he won another race in Gainesville, Florida for the fourth straight time! This time the win came at the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series regional event which he also won last season. This race was a blockbuster for Top Alcohol fans as the full field produced an incredible 5.17 ET by Richard Bourke. “Any time someone lays down a 5.17 you know the track conditions are excellent and it sets the stage for a premier event to win,” said Duane, who qualified second with a 5.25 at 272 MPH. “On the first qualifying run we wanted to make a good pass and get safely in the show. Once we did that we turned it up to see how quick we could go without smoking the tires,” Duane explained.

In round one, Duane faced Top Alcohol Dragster legend Tom Conway who was driving John Finke’s new car. “The first round was a wild card. John Finke brought out a new car and we knew that Tom Conway can really tune a dragster so we really didn’t know what to expect,” Duane said. It turned out that the PEAK team had little to worry about as Duane was first out of the gate and then Conway shook the tires while Duane posted a respectable 5.35 at 268 MPH to take an easy win.


In the semi finals, Duane faced another great driver, Rich McPhillips. Again, Duane was out first with a .042 to McPhillip’s 0.058 and just like in round one, Duane’s opponent lost traction and shut down early while Duane zoomed to a 5.32 at 270 MPH win. “The track conditions were improving as the day progressed and we figured Rich was going to be tough to beat so we tuned it up a little bit,” Duane said.


In the final round, Duane took on Richard Bourke, the driver that made the spectacular 5.17 pass in qualifying. However, Bourke slowed down in the second round while Duane ran quicker so the PEAK team decided to leave the car alone going into the finals. As the lights came down, Duane once again was off the line first with a .050 to Bourke’s .072 and unlike the previous two rounds Duane’s opponent gave him a run for his money. While it was close, Duane stayed in the lead the entire length of the track and scored the win. Duane’s winning time was a 5.32 at 271 MPH to Bourke’s 5.36 at 272 MPH. “It was a great event, the car ran consistent on every pass and it’s good to get PEAK back in the Winner’s Circle. We hope we can continue this streak at the Gatornationals in a couple of weeks,” Duane said.


Duane would like to thank PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil, Final Charge, Blue Def, NGK, GRP and Brad Anderson Enterprises for their support.