Demke Reaches Finals at 59th U.S. Nationals

Courtesy of NVW Motorsports Promotion
Photo courtesy of NVW M.P.

CLERMONT, Ind. (September 3, 2013) – Top Alcohol Dragster’s Chris Demke added another runner-up finish to his 2013 bid at the national championship, this time reaching the finals at the legendary 59^th Annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. The classic Labor Day meet was Demke’s sixth runner-up of the year.

Chris drove the Peen Rite/OSI/Boost Performance Products blown alcohol dragster to the No. 1 qualifying position during the final qualifying session after two consecutive low 5.4-second runs. His “Hail Mary” 5.33 put him on top of the U.S. Nationals qualifying order, which included twenty four cars from around the country.

“We struggled early in qualifying,” Chris recalled. “We smoked the tires on the first hit then had to scrub new tires on the second and third runs. We were finally able to get after it on the final session. We got a little greedy but it ran a nice 5.33 to qualify number one.”

The Californian driver and members of his Maddern Racing team made a trip to another Indianapolis racing landmark to add to the weekend’s festivities.

“I went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum with some of my crew guys after Saturday qualifying and got a good look at automotive racing technology as it changed over the years. It gave me a real understanding for why the race is what it is, why we get excited for it. Indy is the motorsports capital of the world, and there’s no way to ignore that.”

Chris started eliminations with a first round win over 2012 event finalist Dyno Dave Heitzman on Sunday night. He unleashed another 5.33 to defeat Rich McPhillips’ 5.43 second round effort. He would meet recent rival Shawn Cowie in the semifinals. The match ended with Demke getting revenge on the returning TAD hotshot. Chris’ 5.36 took the win after Cowie smoked the tires off the starting line.

“It was an important win. Shawn beat me on his comeback – beat me in the finals at the Woodburn regional then in the quarter-finals at Seattle. We were going to stay offensive instead of defensive on that run. Shawn and his guys have done a great job – to win two races after two years away is very incredible. We stayed on the offensive and ran another thirty. They were having trouble getting the car down the track without shaking the tires so we set it up to run a thirty and made them catch us,” Demke claimed.

No. 2 qualifier and fierce competitor Jim Whiteley would make up the second part of the final round at “The Big Go”. The two blown alcohol heavy hitters ran some of the quickest runs of the weekend through the previous eliminations rounds, and continued the trend in the finals. Whiteley took a slight holeshot and held on to take the win in a 5.35 to 5.37 race.

“There’s going rounds at a race, and there’s going rounds at Indy. It’s a completely different thing. It was an exciting feeling to make it to another final round but to do it at Indy made it much more special. I didn’t want to say it was another race – there’s no way to hide that. I knew I had to put on my game face and try to win that race. It just didn’t happen. My team has nothing to be down about – facing Jim Whiteley and his team is tough no matter where the race is. Indy is supposed to be a meeting of the best cars in the country. I was just very pleased to be a part of that outcome,” said Demke.

The U.S. Nationals was also a critical event in Chris Demke’s chase for the 2013 National Championship. Though it didn’t completely dash the fan-favorite driver’s hopes for the title, the loss to new points leader Whiteley certainly hurt them.

“Jim went around me in points. I was not able to hold the lead in national points. Going forward, he has more opportunity to increase the lead than I have opportunity to regain the lead. I’m not conceding the championship to him, but it’s looking unlikely that I’ll be able to catch him. But anything can happen,” Chris added optimistically.

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/Boost Performance Products 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., Boost Performance Products, A1 Technologies, Boninfante Friction Inc., and Hoosier Racing Tire.