Photos courtesy of Mike Sopko and Maddern Racing
JOLIET, Ill. (July 2, 2013) After five
final round appearances, Top Alcohol Dragster pilot Chris Demke and his Jerry
Maddern-owned team were able to break through to earn their first race win of
the 2013 season. In addition to winning the Route 66 Nationals, Demke reached
the prestigious Jegs Allstars final round for the second year in a row.
Demke qualified No. 2 for the Allstars
event, lining him up with East Region representative Dan Mercier first round.
Chris ran 5.322 to move around Mercier. The first round run also counted as the
Allstars competitors’ final qualifying session, so Demke’s 5.32 put him in the
No. 4 spot going into national event eliminations. Semifinal opponent Randy
Meyer was shut off just before launch, giving the Maddern Racing team a free
run into the finals. Chris’ 5.31 gave him lane choice over Bill Reichert.
Reichert pulled out his quickest run of the weekend (5.319), defeating Demke’s
close 5.327.
“I was very nervous going into first
round of the Jegs Allstars race. Though we qualified No. 2, we didn’t run as
well as we would’ve liked. We stepped up through eliminations but my
competition stepped up as well. We stayed aggressive but we didn’t want to beat
ourselves. Going into the final, the air got better, the track got better, and
the car just drove through the clutch which slowed the car down. We still ran
5.32, but you can’t give anything up when you’re racing Reichert. He showed why
he’s a multi-time world champion,” said Demke.
Demke’s Peen Rite/Operational
Solutions/801 Racing dragster continued to click off low 5.3 runs in the first
and second rounds of eliminations for the Route 66 Nationals, defeating Aaron
Olivarez and Marty Thacker. The car slowed to a 5.37 in the semifinals, but
opponent Alan Bradshaw was unable to beat it. Tuner Adam Rhoades stepped up the
performance for the finals, sending Chris on a 5.317/271 MPH pass to beat
rookie Rishi Kanick, 5.44.
“As eliminations progressed, we were
most concerned about Alan Bradshaw. Jim Whiteley lost in the first round and
there were multiple top cars who didn’t qualify. Alan was running five-twenties
consistently so we felt he was our biggest threat. We both struggled in the
same spot but I was able to recover. Rishi hadn’t been running as well that day
so we thought that we had a good chance at winning the race as long as we
didn’t make any mistakes. We made some changes to make sure it didn’t shake and
it worked. I saw my win light came on and I felt a range of emotions that I
haven’t felt in a long time,” Chris said after winning his tenth national
event.
After multiple odd parts problems left
him winless through the first half of the season, Demke now feels that his
team’s luck has turned around.
“We’ve been paying a lot to the luck
bank, and I think some of it is finally coming back around to us. Alan beat me
in the finals at Topeka when the blower snout broke. Rishi beat me in the semifinals
at the Four-Wide Nationals when the car mysteriously dropped a cylinder at the
hit, which doesn’t happen often in alcohol cars. You don’t want to expect to
win, but I know we have the crew, car and parts that we need to win but we’ve
struggled figuring out this new car. We learned a lot this weekend, and I think
we’ll have a much better second half of the season.”
Chris and the Maddern Racing team will
take the next weekend off to return to the west coast, where they’ll defend
their win at the Woodburn regional, July 12-14 at Oregon’s Woodburn Dragstrip.
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.
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