Shields, Veney win at Virginia

Words by Eric Lotz
DRO file photos

At the Eastern Region Lucas Oil Drag Racing Season opener at Virginia Motorsports Park, reigning Top Alcohol Dragster world champ Duane Shields put a disastrous start to his title defense behind him, outlasting a giant field for his first victory of the season. In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Todd Veney drove Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream Impala to a close final-round win over D.J. Cox, 5.66 seconds to 5.69.

Duane Shields  (James Drew photo)

Shields, who had gone up in smoke right off the line in the first round in each of his four previous starts this year, qualified No. 3 and ran down Jackie Fricke and Mike Kosky in the preliminary rounds and Rich McPhillips, who had dominated all weekend, in the final.

"The car has run well at every track we’ve been to this year – just not in eliminations," Shields said. "It’s kind of hard to tune the thing when it only goes five feet, but we got it calmed down this weekend and finally got a win."

Fricke, who won a national event at this track as a Super Comp driver, got the jump in round one, but Shields ran her down, 5.40 to 5.47. In the semi’s, Kosky, who closed 2011 with his first national event win since 1999, was off like a shot and seemingly had the race in hand when his fuel tank ruptured and Shields slipped past him, 5.41, 268 mph to 5.61, 253.

"I saw him almost all the way," Shields said. "My car usually makes a charge at the top end, but I was already thinking, ‘I don’t know about this…’ because he was so far out there. Then he just disappeared and I shot by him."

The final was over early when McPhillips, who ran quicker on his worst qualifying run (5.33) than any other driver did on his best, went up in smoke a few hundred feet off the line. After qualifying No. 1 with a 5.31, McPhillips had low e.t. of the opening round with a 5.37 against two-time Division 1 champ John Finke and low e.t. of the semifinals with a 5.34 opposite Doug Foley’s close 5.39. He slipped to a 6.98 in the final while Shields streaked to a 5.38, his quickest run of eliminations.

"It really left hard that time," Shields said. "I dropped a cylinder pretty early in the run and still ran a .38. McPhillips had been running so well all weekend that when I felt it drop that cylinder I was sure he was going to come around me, but he never did."