Racer steering to shot at top spot

By Brent Hinckley

Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 | 1:32 p.m.

Boulder City resident and National Hot Rod Association drag racer Duane Shields thinks this can be his year to win a national championship.

There are three NHRA races left before the circuit returns to Las Vegas, Oct. 30 to Nov. 2.

By that time, Shields hopes he’ll make a run at the top spot in the Top Alcohol Dragster division. He’s currently in fifth place with 576 points, trailing first place by just 78 points.

“It’s been a good year. I’ve had some good cars when it counted, and I think these final races will be exciting,” Shields said.

Shields is coming off a second place finish at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis Aug. 27 to Sept. 1.

Shields says the race in Indianapolis is the biggest of the season.

“I was the runner-up at Indy once before and didn’t really think about it at the time, but a couple of years later I finally realized just how big winning Indy really is. Winning the US Nationals is the one race people always refer to,” Shields said.

In seven national events Shields has one win, three second places and a semifinal appearance.

Now, that’s an impressive record.

His best overall finish at the national level came in 2002 when he finished in second place in the final standings, and the way the season is shaping up, it’s possible 2008 will be a year for him to remember.

OVERTIME: The football season is fully under way. College and high school teams wrapped up their second week of play, while the NFL has its first week under its belt. It’s good to be surrounded by football.

I was in Seattle this last weekend and caught a couple of high school games, being played in a stadium adjacent to the Space Needle.

In Nevada we tend to think that our level of football isn’t equal to what is found around the rest of the country and that’s probably true in parts of Texas, Florida and California.

After what I saw, some of the top teams in Las Vegas like Palo Verde, Del Sol and Bishop Gorman could compete at that level. In fact MaxPreps.com ranks Palo Verde has the 214th best team in the country, Gorman at 613th and Del Sol as 1,576th.

There’s talent in Southern Nevada and it’s starting to get recognized.