TAD RACER SHIELDS READY TO DOMINATE AGAIN
After a year-long struggle, Duane Shields is ready to dominate once again.
The 2013 season could easily be described as a nightmare for the former Top Alcohol Dragster Champion; highlighted by a career high four DNQ’s and the loss of fellow crewman and close personal friend Ralph Freeman.
After a year-long struggle, Duane Shields is ready to dominate once again.
The 2013 season could easily be described as a nightmare for the former Top Alcohol Dragster Champion; highlighted by a career high four DNQ’s and the loss of fellow crewman and close personal friend Ralph Freeman.
“Our car was very inconsistent and was not going down the track,” Shields stated. “After going back to the original tune up it proved that we needed change.”
It seemed getting down the track consistently was the major issue Shields faced and being able to keep up with the ever growing performance of Alcohol injected blower cars of the class. After realizing a National Championship was out realm, Shields made the best of the remaining season by experimenting with a new engine combination.
“We ended up changing our engine motor sizes going to a larger 439 cubic inch motor.” Shields explained. “Our thought process was whatever has happened with the track preparation and conditions, having a larger engine combination would allow us more consistency and ways of putting the power to the ground. “
The advancement in the Blown Alcohol Injected Dragsters allowed teams to control the timing and wheel speed throughout the length of the run. This was a distinct advantage over the traditional Nitro Injected combinations that Shields competes with because of the straight drive clutch system. “They have a lot of flexibility over the course of the run where as our Nitro combination, it’s harder to control wheel speed and use it where we want it,” Shields further explained.
Going to a larger engine combination seems to be the equalizer among being able to get power to the ground. More cubic inches generally mean more horsepower but for Shields it’s a matter of finding a better tuning window.
“The new bigger cubic inch combination seems to allow us a little more margin for a tuning window,” Shields admitted.
As a result the new combination has already paid some dividends with the team fixing the problem of being able to get down the race track consistently. In the final two races of the season Shields failed to smoke the tires down track, where he struggled the most.
While still lacking in overall performance Shields is very optimistic about the new combination.
“We solved our down track issues that plagued us in the start of the season,” Shields stated. “Now we just have to get back after the overall fuel and power curve of the combination to make the car just a little quicker.”
With the season opener just three short weeks away in Pomona only time will tell if the 2011 Top Alcohol Dragster Champion can dominate the class once again.
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