POMONA, Calif. (November 12, 2014) – Chris Demke enters the 50th Annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at Pomona with a recently refined, once-retired race car. After a series of upgrades, Demke and his Peen Rite team brought an old car to the Las Vegas regional with the goal of finding a quick, consistent tune-up for future competition. The Uyehara-built Top Alcohol Dragster, retired in 2012 and replaced by the 2014 national championship-winning car, performed as anticipated. Demke ran a pair of low five-thirty elapsed times in qualifying, but slowed to lose first round.
“As for getting the bugs ironed out of the car, I would say everything went according to the plan. We tested on Thursday and that was valuable as it gave me some seat time to readjust to this car. The car ran well in qualifying. We just missed on the tune-up going into eliminations. While we got all of the bugs ironed out, we were tuning this car the way we tuned the championship car. I hate losing first round. It was the first time we've lost first round in a long time this year, but other than that we accomplished everything we set out to accomplish. Now the car is ready for Pomona this weekend,” Demke claimed.
The season-ending Auto Club Finals isn't just a season finale to Demke, it's a homecoming of sorts, as both driver and team are based in Southern California.
“I'm thrilled to be back home to finish out the season as the new champion. I'm looking forward to seeing and shaking hands with all of my friends, family and fans back in my hometown. I just want to finish out the season on a high note. We want to do some more tuning on this chassis and just go out and have a good time. It's the 50th anniversary of the Finals. It's wonderful to have the chance to compete at a race with such a storied history. If all goes well, hopefully we can step away from the weekend with another Wally to add to what has been our team's and my best season ever,” said the 2014 Top Alcohol Dragster national champion.
The Peen Rite/OSI/Boost Performance Products blown alcohol dragster isn't new to success at the famed Auto Club Raceway. Demke claimed the 2012 Auto Club Finals title driving this car, beating rival Jim Whiteley in the quickest and fastest blown alcohol side-by-side race in history. The Maddern Racing driver also won the 2010, 2012 and 2014 Winternationals, held at Pomona in February. Possibly Demke's most impressive Pomona performance came at this year's Winternationals, running 5.21 in qualifying and a string of twenties to win.
“I'm hoping to go faster,” Demke said of his Finals goal. “I expect to exceed our performance from the Winternationals earlier this year if all goes as planned. It's never a guarantee but I want to set the bar high. All of the pieces are in place to make that happen. Traditionally you see all of the teams run better at the Finals than they did at the Winternationals. The teams all have their tune-ups refined and the crews are well-exercised. Some teams will start experimenting for next year, and we'll do that to an extent but we won't be out of bounds to run some quick ETs and high speeds.”
Maddern Racing is a family-owned and operated NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster team based in Southern California. The team's Chris Demke-driven Peen Rite/Operational Solutions/Boost Performance Products blown alcohol dragster is owned by Jerry Maddern and crewed by Adam Rhoades, Kevin Watson, Mike Demke, Greg Rice, and Robert Hadaller. For more information on Chris Demke and Maddern Racing, please visit www.MaddernRacing.com.
Maddern Racing receives support from the following companies: Peen Rite Inc., Operational Solutions Inc., Boost Performance Products, B-G Detection, Afco, LA X-Ray, Jet-Lube, and Morningwood Energy Drink.
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