NHRA’s Shields races with little to gain

Duane Shields will be at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this afternoon fine-tuning his 270 mph Top Alcohol Dragster in preparation for qualifying runs the next two days at the NHRA Big O Tires Nationals.

He claims the drives to the track from his Boulder City home will be relaxing, easing the anxiety as Shields draws closer to his first NHRA national championship in two weeks at the season finale in Pomona, Calif.

Shields, 48, is first in series points, with Joey Severance of Woodburn, Ore., 44 points behind. Jim Whiteley of Grand Junction, Colo., is third, 74 points back but with a remote chance of catching Shields with two national events remaining and one regional race at Las Vegas next weekend.

But Shields has little control of his fate.

In golf parlance, Shields is sitting in the clubhouse with a four-stroke lead, and the only ones who can destroy his dream have two holes to play.

In Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series sportsman divisions, including Top Alcohol, drivers only count championship points from up to five national and five regional events.

Shields has fulfilled his limit, but Severance and Whiteley can earn points this weekend and at Pomona in national events, and the Shortline Express Market Gambler Shootout divisional at LVMS from Nov. 4 through Nov. 6.

"I've done all I can do," Shields said.

He has won two of his 17 national events this year, but a national championship is missing from his resume. And the $35,000 bonus also would be welcomed.

Shields can only serve as a "blocker" if he faces and beats Severance during elimination rounds, which begin in Top Alcohol on Saturday and continue Sunday.

"I'm just here to have fun," Shields said. "There's no pressure on me, but I'd like to run them heads-up and take them out."

Shields will only get chances based on how each driver ranks after qualifying, which will set matchups during eliminations.

Shields has struggled at his home track, never advancing beyond major event semifinals despite having one of the strongest dragsters the past several years.

"Vegas has not traditionally been a good track for me," he said, explaining that the city's relatively high altitude does not favor dragsters such as his that use nitromethane and fuel injection. Others, such as those driven by Severance and Whiteley, use methanol and supercharged engines.

That's why Shields based his regional competition this year in the Southeast, at a lower altitude, where he won the NHRA Division 2 championship.

■ NOTES -- Two free autograph sessions will be held tonight. The first, from 5 to 7 p.m., will be at the Fremont Street Experience's Third Street Stage, where drivers scheduled to attend include Larry Dixon, Morgan Lucas, Shawn Langdon, Del Worsham, David Grubnic, Brandon Bernstein, Tim Wilkerson, Jack Beckman, Bob Tasca III, Melanie Troxel, Jeff Arend, Johnny Gray, Allen Johnson, Erica Enders, Larry Morgan, Greg Anderson, Jason Line, Shane Gray, L.E. Tonglet, and Karen Stoffer. Tony Schumacher, Antron Brown, Spencer Massey, Ron Capps, Jack Beckman and Gray will be at New York-New York from 7 to 9 p.m.

Jeff Wolf is a freelance reporter. He can be reached at (702) 406-8165 or nitrorodeo@gmail.com.