Photo courtesy of Aimee Maddern
POMONA, Calif. (February 19, 2013) – Top
Alcohol Dragster driver Chris Demke has enjoyed plenty of success at Auto Club
Raceway in recent years. That success continued this past weekend, though maybe
not to the extent that the Californian was shooting for. Considering the fact
that the team only had one full run on the car heading into the event, it was a
very successful outing for the Maddern Racing team.
“To win it would have been awesome, but
to make it to the finals with a new car and all of the engine problems that we
ran into, it certainly exceeded our expectations. I think we’re headed in the
right direction with it. We’re slowly but surely learning what it likes. What
it likes is an aggressive tune-up and it wants to go fast. We’re getting after
it at the next one,” Demke said.
Chris started qualifying with a 5.36 at
267 mph, already topping their best run in testing. The performance continued
to improve in the second qualifying session, nearing the 5.2s with a 5.34. On
the last qualifying run, Demke clicked off a 5.27 at 270 mph, just the fourth
full run on the car, to take the #2 slot.
“The first two runs were smooth and
easy; nice runs out of the box. There weren’t really any issues with the cars,
but I was struggling with my lights. Not that I try hard during qualifying, but
my lights were atrocious - a .202 and .299. I went into the final session
thinking, ‘I only have one run to figure out what’s going on with me’. I had
about 15 minutes of downtime right before the run and I realized that I wasn’t
going through my typical mental preparations. Once I realized what I was
forgetting, I did my mental preparations, cut a good light, and the car ripped
off a 5.278. The whole team was just overjoyed. The car was happy, I was
getting comfortable in the car, and the crew had a handle on the tune-up. At
that point I knew we were ready to race,” claimed the excitable computer
specialist.
For having only a handful of passes on
their newly acquired 2002 Uyehara dragster, the Maddern Racing team tuned it up
to their standards in a short period. It came as a surprise to Demke how quick
the Peen Rite/OSI/801 Racing TAD got up to speed.
“I think it surprised us. Based on how
things had gone in Vegas testing – the car not going 30 feet without issues –
it brought us back down to Earth. We figured, ‘new car, we know how to do
this.’ After the test session, we didn’t have high hopes. Being able to lay
down a 5.2 on the fourth full pass, I’d say it did surprise us. It was
surprising, but satisfying.”
To start eliminations, Chris drove the
Peen Rite rail to a decisive 5.28 first round win over Garrett Bateman. He got
around 801 Racing teammate Johnny Ahten in round two, 5.35 to 5.49. The
semifinals would see Chris move on to the finals after he beat Don St. Arnaud.
Unfortunately the motor nicknamed “Ludwig” would not be moving on with him.
“We name our four blocks: Maximus,
Ludwig, Conan, and Ghengis Khan. Maximus was in the car when we won the Finals
last year. We did normal service on Maximus and moved it to the new car for
Vegas testing and Pomona. So Maximus ran all of qualifying and first round
against Garrett Bateman where I ran 5.28, so Maximus was running real well. It
rolled a pin on a rod second round against Ahten. Rather than take the head off
and change that piston, we decided to put a spare motor in, so we threw Ludwig
in. In the semifinals it went into tire shake. I was able to drive through
that, then after I pushed it into second I felt it go lame. I shut it off after
that, around 1200 feet,” said Chris.
It was hard to abandon the run, but
after going through one motor swap already, Demke wanted to avoid more
potential problems.
“It’s almost painful. I know I’m
supposed to keep my foot on the throttle all the way down the track, but I felt
the car going lame,” Chris continues. “I didn’t know what had happened. As I
was slowing down, I could smell the burnt oil so I steered the car over towards
the wall and came to a stop. I didn’t know what it had run. It ran 5.49 but it
felt like a 6.49. When I got out of the car I could see melted shifter air
lines and a lot of it was singed, so I knew there was a pretty big flame out
the back. Knowing we just went through a motor change, all I could think about
was how tired my guys were and if we had enough to fix it. When we got back to
the pit, Jerry Maddern and Adam Rhoades already had guys lined up for an engine
swap. We were going to throw in our second spare, Conan, but Kevin Watson had
the great idea to quickly fix the damaged rod in Maximus. With help from some
of the TAFC teams we were able to get Ludwig out of the car and repair
Maximus.”
Time was already short before the final
round. Unable to start the car and check the timing before their final round
meeting with Jim Whiteley, Demke and the crew headed to the starting line unsure
what would happen. Amazingly the car clicked off another 5.27. Unfortunately
for the Maddern Racing team, Whiteley got a small starting line advantage and
ran 5.24 to end their hopes of back-to-back Winternationals victories. Chris is
just grateful to the people who helped him and his Peen Rite team turn the car
around.
“I really want to thank Bob DeVour and
Shane Westerfield’s team, as well as Sean Bellemeur. Bob led the effort to get
the rod changed in Maximus and Shane’s guys worked on that while we got the
other motor out of the car. Without their help, we wouldn’t have made it up
there for the final round,” Demke said with great appreciation.
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We believe true happiness comes from
blazing down the blacktop with the pedal to the metal and our hair on fire. The
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