Demke Continues Spring Tour in Houston

Courtesy of NVW Motorsports Promotion

BAYTOWN, Texas (April 24, 2013) – Top Alcohol Dragster standout Chris Demke rolls into Royal Purple Raceway this weekend with further confidence in his Peen Rite/OSI/801 Racing dragster following season-best runs at the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte last weekend. The Californian made the cross-country trip to run quick and finish ahead of rival blown alcohol competitor Jim Whiteley. Demke and team successfully checked off both of those goals.

The weekend began with a pair of low five-thirty laps to qualify sixth in a field of nineteen of the nation’s top blown alcohol and A/Fuel Dragsters. Demke put chassis builder Dan Page on the trailer first round with a deciding 5.30 to 5.42 victory. That set up a marquee match-up with Jim Whiteley in the next elimination round.

“As everybody knows, it’s always a big race when our team matches up with Jim Whiteley and the YNot team. Their car had been running high five-twenties in air that I expected it to run five-nineteens and twenties in, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect. That was when we turned a knob on the car that the old one would’ve never responded to. It ended being the quickest pass on the new chassis, and it couldn’t have come at a better time,” Chris explained.

Whiteley laid down a booming 5.21 at 275 mph pass – one of the quickest blown alcohol dragster passes in alcohol racing history. Demke used a sizable starting line advantage to finish ahead of Whiteley, running 5.26.

“I was there with a decent light and our car’s tune-up was in line. We ended up winning the race by some three thousandths of a second. As Jerry (Maddern) came in the trailer after that round, he looked at me and said, ‘That was huge,’ which was an exciting thing to hear from him, as he’s a man of few words,” said Demke, who ultimately lost to rookie Rishi Kanick in the semifinals.

Chris Demke and his Maddern Racing team will get the chance to build upon that performance shortly at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Springnationals, April 26-28.

“It’s very timely to have back-to-back races. After learning a lot about the car in Charlotte, we go into Houston with all of those ideas and plans fresh in our minds. Even though we didn’t forget anything, I’ll study the computer, as will Adam. We’ll have a very strong plan. It keeps everybody fresh. If you take a month off between races, you lose your edge. You have to get back in sync with the car. With back-to-back races, you don’t lose your edge and you don’t need to get back in sync. That definitely gives us a big motivational advantage going into Houston.”

Maddern Racing, celebrating 20 years of competition in 2013, is a family-owned and operated NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster team based in Southern California. The Chris Demke-driven Peen Rite/OSI/801 Racing dragster is owned by Jerry Maddern and crewed by Adam Rhoades, Kevin Watson, Mike Demke, and Ron Mann. For more information on Maddern Racing, please visit www.MaddernRacing.com.

Maddern Racing receives support from the following companies: Peen Rite Inc., Operational Solutions Inc., 801 Racing, A1 Technologies, Boninfante Friction Inc., and Hoosier Racing Tire.