Demke Locks Up TAD Title, Battle Now is for 2nd Place

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association
Photo courtesy of David Smith

Like 2014 Top Alcohol Funny Car world champ Steve Harker, Top Alcohol Dragster champion Chris Demke was a multi-time championship runner-up who finally won it all with an unbelievable second-half run. Like Harker, he swept Charlotte and Reading in one unforgettable weekend, walking away with three Wallys and turning the 2014 points race into a race for second place.

Demke, who finished second to Bill Reichert in the 2010 standings and to nemesis Jim Whiteley in 2012 and 2013, won a career-high nine races in 2014 – five national events and four regionals. He began the season with a barrage of 5.20s in a Winternationals rout, was gone by the second round at the next five in a row, then raced just once in a three-month span from March to June as rival Joey Severance took control of the class.

Everything changed June 22 at the West regional at Yellowstone Dragstrip in Acton, Mont., when Demke outran Severance, who had lane choice, in the final. Over the next 11 races, Demke's Adam Rhoades-tuned dragster reached nine finals, won eight (including the big one, the U.S. Nationals), and went four-for-four in regional competition, scoring at Acton, Columbus, Seattle, and Topeka to win the West Region championship in a landslide. He won 35 of 38 rounds aboard Jerry Maddern's Peen Rite dragster and his overall season win-loss record was 43-8 after the Reading double, which included the quickest run of his career (5.217) and the fastest run of any blown-alcohol driver's career (277.94 mph).

Severance, son of '70s Pro Comp great Joe Severance, enjoyed an otherwise outstanding season, winning two regional events in three finals and two national events in three finals, including one over Demke at Seattle that seemed crucial at the time. He took the early season lead and was the midseason title favorite after scoring back to back to back at the Phoenix regional, Las Vegas regional, and Las Vegas national.

Severance's championship hopes were dashed by two disastrous DNQs – one at Norwalk, a race Demke skipped, and another at the Topeka regional that Demke eventually won. His focus now turns to locking down second place and fighting off a determined group of challengers led by Kansas veteran Randy Meyer, the top-ranked A/Fuel driver of 2014.

Meyer's team has excelled with three different drivers at the controls this year. Meyer himself has won three times in five finals, including twice at the national level – Houston and Brainerd. In four starts in Meyer's car, Shayne Lawson won three of them, including two national events (Topeka and Dallas) and the Tulsa regional, where he topped teammate Chase Copeland in an all-Randy Meyer Racing final.

Fourth-ranked Rich McPhillips is on pace to tie his highest finish ever in the national standings and a lock for his third Top 10 in a row. The Gatornationals and U.S. Nationals runner-up scored twice on the regional level (at his home tracks, Maple Grove and Atco) and narrowly missed a second East Region championship in three years when he came out on the wrong end of a tiebreaker with Jackie Fricke.

If Reichert hangs onto fifth place, and he probably will, it'll be his 11th Top 5 in a row, unprecedented in Top Alcohol Dragster history. The retiring five-time national champ didn't claim a national event win for the first time in a decade but did rack up a pair of North Central regional victories (Indy and Chicago) and winds up his distinguished career tied with Rick Santos (1997-2001) for the most championships in class history.

2011 national champ Duane Shields emerged victorious three times this year – all in Gainesville, despite the fact that that track hosts only two races, the Gatornationals and an East Regional. He won the rain-delayed Houston regional that was completed at Gainesville, swept that weekend by doubling up at the Gatornationals, and completed his points-earning season earlier this month with a win at the regularly scheduled Gainesville regional. Seventh in the standings with no more races to claim, he'll finish in the Top 10 for the eighth time in nine years.

Fricke, currently ranked number 7, truly had a breakout year in 2014. Runner-up at the East Region opener in Richmond, she drove Joe Cantrell's Tom Conway-tuned A/Fueler to her first NHRA title at the Lebanon Valley regional and scored again at the very next East Region race, at New England Dragway, to open a sizable lead in the East standings that she never relinquished. The many-time IHRA Super Comp national event winner also earned her first semifinal finish in national competition at the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte.

Without attracting much attention, transplanted Englishman and former World Finals winner Michael Manners quietly holds down eighth place. For him, it's been all or nothing all year. Manners opened his 2014 campaign with seven first-round losses in a row and nine in the first 10 races, but went all the way to the final at the other two, finishing second to Demke at the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago and winning two weeks ago at Noble, Okla.

Mike Strasburg and Mark Taliaferro are still in the Top 10 despite running just seven races this year and being sidelined for months. In an odd twist, neither will compete again in the cars that carried them to Top 10 status. Strasburg, who now is Top Alcohol Funny Car star Annie Whiteley's crew chief, hasn't competed since earning his first national event win at Norwalk in Jim Whiteley's 2013 championship car that has since been sold. Taliaferro, who reached three finals in seven starts with crew chief Norm Grimes, has been out of action since a violent crash in the second round of the Northwest Nationals in Seattle.

Canadian Jeff Veale, rookie Mia Tedesco, and veteran Shawn Cowie sit just outside the current Top 10. Veale, 11th in the standings, completed the finest season of his nine-year driving career in 2014, running in excess of 280 mph numerous times, winning his first NHRA title at Richmond, and becoming the last driver ever to race his friend, Reichert. Tedesco, a heavy hitter in the Super classes completing her first year in an A/Fueler, collected her first alcohol win at the Bowling Green regional at the wheel of Dave Hirata's car and backed it up a week later with a strong semifinal showing at the U.S. Nationals. Cowie, always at his best at Las Vegas, where he's earned three of his career four national event victories, will crack the Top 10 if he qualifies at either Las Vegas or Pomona and will overtake Strasburg for ninth place if he wins a round at either one.

2013 Year in Review

2013 was one of the most exciting years of alcohol racing in recent history for a variety of reasons. Presenting some of the top stories from 2013.


Shawn Cowie Returns with Dominating Wins
Returning to the seat after a two-year recovery from a life-threatening motorcycle accident, Shawn Cowie completed the most impressive comeback in drag racing, possibly any sport. Shawn drove his Bill Moore-tuned blown alcohol dragster to the No. 1 qualifying position at the first Woodburn regional, going on to win the race with a final round victory over friendly rival Chris Demke, 5.41 to 5.43. Cowie did it again at the Northwest Nationals, where he qualified No. 4 and defeated Garrett Bateman in the finals.

First-Time Winners
Of the sixteen national event TAD winners, four were first time winners - Gord Gingles, Brandon Booher, Robin Samsel, and Johnny Ahten. Five TAFC drivers received their first big Wallys in 2013 - Dan Pomponio, Jirka Kaplan, Annie Whiteley, Shane Westerfield, and Paul Noakes.

Troy Case photo

 



Rule Changes
Torque converter-equipped cars started the season with a 50-lb weight break, new for 2013. That break was rescinded earlier this month. Also announced earlier this month was an adjustment to the fuel-related limits for A/Fuel cars. The new rules will allow nitro-injected entries to run 95% nitromethane (up 1%), chilled to 40 degrees F (down 10 degrees), through an insulated main fuel line.

Parity Achieved
The Top Alcohol Dragster class saw extremely close competition in 2013, with the blown alcohol and injected nitro cars claiming eight national event wins each. The two combinations are also equal in national Top 10 finishers and regional championships. Season-best performances are also very close - 5.215/275.9 for blown and 5.227/276.58 for A/Fuel. For a complete look at the 2013 parity in TAD, check out Brad Littlefield's comparison for National Dragster.

Manzo and Whiteley go out on top
Eventual national champions Jim Whiteley and Frank Manzo both announced their retirement from Top Alcohol driving late in the season. Whiteley won an outstanding eight of twelve final rounds in 2013, locking up the national title at the Toyota Nationals and the West Region title a week later at the Vegas regional. Manzo started a midseason charge with a win at Brainerd, going on to win Indy, Charlotte2, Las Vegas2, and the Finals at Pomona. He finished the season with a 151-point lead over John Lombardo in the national standings.

New Crop of TAD Drivers
Several new faces joined TAD in 2013 - Rishi Kanick, a Top Dragster driver from Trinidad and Tobago, Jeff Ashwell, who previously drove TAFC, Ashley Sanford, a young sand dragster standout, Kyle Michalek, winner of Champion's Search for a Champion contest, JP Gutierrez, a Top Dragster driver and former nitro crew guy, and Jonathan Pickett, driving his family's blown car. Corey Michalek, Megan Meyer, Sadie Floyd, and Jake Sanders also started or completed the licensing process during the season.

Severance's Save
A broken oil line sent Joey Severance's blown alcohol dragster towards the centerline during eliminations at the AAA Texas Fall Nationals, close to barrel-rolling. The clip of Joey's near miss went viral and made ESPN2 highlight reels for the balance of the season.

Booher, Anderika Win Regional Titles with Converters
Brandon Booher (TAD) and John Anderika (TAFC) continued to show the potential of torque converters in 2013. Booher qualified No. 1 at five regional events, winning three of them. He broke through to win his first national event at the Carolina Nationals at Charlotte, also running one of the fastest blown alcohol speeds in history (275.39). Brandon secured the North Central region TAD title and finished No. 3 in national points. Anderika won two of five finals to win the East Region TAFC title. Jirka Kaplan also experienced success with his automatic TAFC, winning the Topeka national event.

Bartone, Jackson split
National championship contenders Tony Bartone and team owner Rick Jackson decided to go their separate ways towards the middle of the season, leaving Bartone looking for a new ride and Jackson looking for a new driver. Tony and longtime tuner Steve Boggs were back at the Topeka regional with Mickey Ferro's car. Bartone and Ferro shared the driving duties at the remaining races. Jackson finished the season with Von Smith driving at the Vegas and Pomona races.

Lombardo, Jackson Form Alliance
Top 5 driver/team owner John Lombardo Jr. announced an alliance with Rick Jackson Racing during the fall Las Vegas national event. The Jackson-Lombardo Racing team will debut a new Hadman-built Mustang at the 2014 Winternationals, with Lombardo behind the wheel, Jackson making the tuning calls, and primary support coming from NAPA Auto Parts and Lucas Oil. John's 2013 Central Region championship-winning car will be used for displays and appearances in national and regional event markets.

Demke Runner-Up to Returning Cowie at Woodburn

Courtesy of NVW Motorsports Promotion
Photo courtesy of Maddern Racing

WOODBURN, Ore. (July 16, 2013) – It took a little guesswork and a little good luck, but Chris Demke and his Peen Rite/Operational Solutions Top Alcohol Dragster team reached their seventh final round of the season, this time at Oregon’s Woodburn Dragstrip. The points-leading blown alcohol dragster was consistent throughout eliminations, but it didn’t have enough to beat Shawn Cowie, who stepped foot in his race car for the first time since a serious motorcycle accident two years ago.

Demke qualified his Maddern Racing entry in the No. 2 spot despite persistent tire shake, running a best of 5.39 at 270 MPH. The car’s on-board data recorder reached its breaking point on the final qualifying run, leaving tuner Adam Rhoades and the crew to tune the car based on what they saw from the starting line.

“We qualified second, but we never really got down the track without dealing with tire shake. I only made it to the finish line once under power during qualifying – had to pedal it the first two sessions then smoked the tires on the final run. Unfortunately our on-board data recorder broke on the final qualifying pass so we didn’t have any data from that run on,” Demke stated.

Chris fought through tire shake into the first two rounds of eliminations but was able to run back-to-back 5.38s to beat Megan McKernan and track co-owner Joey Severance.

“Again, we didn’t have data from the on-board recorder so we were really tuning the car blind. We never did get a handle on it. I was actually surprised we made it as far as the finals. That’s a testament to our crew. They stuck with it and kept the car in top shape for each round. I’m convinced the car would’ve run low five-thirties round after round if we could’ve figured out the tire shake issue. We just never caught up with the changing track conditions,” Demke said of the team’s struggles. The track temperature climbed for each pass, reaching a high in the 120s on Sunday.

The Peen Rite/Operational Solutions team would line up with Cowie, the No. 1 qualifier, in the finals. The two standout blown alcohol drivers were relatively close in performance in the prior rounds, but it was the returning star who took the win to complete his storybook weekend. Demke and Cowie left with identical reaction times but Shawn was a few hundredths ahead at the finish line stripe, 5.41 to 5.43.

“That weekend was really about Shawn Cowie coming back. I was there to get points and meet with the fans that come out to support us at Woodburn. I shook a lot of hands and signed a lot of autographs. I appreciate the fans’ enthusiasm for the sport. But really this weekend was about Shawn returning. As I said to one of his crew guys, it’s great to see them back but it’s a double-edged sword. It’s wonderful that Shawn is healthy and ready to drive again but now I gotta deal with him again,” Chris joked. “Shawn, Bill Moore, and team proved that they’re ready to come back and give everyone a hard time. It will be fun and challenging to race with them again going forward.”

Chris Demke and the Peen Rite/Operational Solutions Maddern Racing team will take the rest of July off before returning to action at the O’Reilly Northwest Nationals near Seattle, August 2-4. Demke is the defending event champion.

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., A1 Technologies, Boninfante Friction Inc., and Hoosier Racing Tire.

Cowie Makes Triumphant Return in TAD, Lombardo Takes TAFC

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

Sidelined Top Alcohol Dragster star Shawn Cowie, critically injured in a motorcycle accident two years ago in Nashville and told repeatedly that he'd never race again, won the Les Schwab Challenge at Woodburn Dragstrip his first time back in the seat, qualifying No. 1 and defeating red-hot Chris Demke in the final. In Top Alcohol Funny Car, John Lombardo Jr. returned to early season form with a hard-fought win over the second-quickest field ever assembled.

Cowie's triumphant return began with a 5.45 test run on Thursday that was a victory in itself. Just getting the car down the track would have been a major accomplishment, but Cowie qualified No. 1 with a 5.33 that held up throughout eliminations for low e.t. and ran low e.t. of two of three rounds, including the final, where he edged Demke, 5.41 to 5.43, to cap a fairytale weekend.

Demke, coming off a win at the Route 66 Nationals, qualified No. 2 behind Cowie with a 5.39 and advanced to his seventh final already this season with back-to-back 5.38s against Megan McKernan, who backpedaled into a wheelstand, and track co-owner Joey Severance, who banged the blower.

Cowie's Mundie's Towing team took out defending event champ Gregg Lawrence in the opening round with a 5.37 and Norwalk runner-up Ray Martin in the semi's with a 5.41. Demke and Cowie left simultaneously in the final with .054 reaction times, and Cowie pulled ahead to win by half a car, 5.41, 267 to 5.43, 268 as Demke fell out of the 5.30s and the 270-mph zone for the first time all day.

Demke's 271.00 in the semifinals was good for top speed of the meet, and his latest final-round showing catapults him over yearlong leader Jim Whiteley and into the national points lead. Cowie's victory actually is his second in a row; in his last race before his accident in April 2011, he won the SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas.

Lombardo scored in Top Alcohol Funny Car for the first time since the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona. He lost photo-finish finals at both the national and regional events in Houston and was upset in the first round in his most recent outing, at Tulsa. This time a close final went his way, 5.70 to 5.75 over defending event champ Jay Payne.

The final was the only race all day in which the lower-qualified driver didn't win. No.8 Payne defeated No. 5 Steve Gasparrelli in one semifinal match, and No. 7 Lombardo took out No. 6 Sean Bellemeur in the other. In the first round, all four drivers from the top half of the field lost – No. 1 Clint Thompson to Payne, No. 2 Doug Gordon to Lombardo, No. 3 Annie Whiteley to Bellemeur, and No. 4 Brian Hough to Gasparrelli.

Qualifying was a show in itself. The bump was a 5.663 – the second-quickest ever behind only the 2009 Sonoma event (5.659 bump) won by Gasparrelli. Four drivers from that field also were a part of this one: Lombardo, Gordon, Gasparrelli, and Payne.

Oregon's Thompson qualified No. 1 with a 5.60, and another home state driver, Hough, set top speed with a barrage of 260-mph blasts, including a best of 262.23. Former Division 7 champion Terry Ruckman and 2013 national event winner Jirka Kaplan ran in the 5.60s and didn't qualify, and top-five driver Shane Westerfield just missed with a 5.70. The entire field was separated by less than six-hundredths of a second, from Thompson's 5.604 to Payne's 5.663.

Only one run in all of eliminations would have been quick enough to make the field – Lombardo's 5.62 in the first round. He ran a 5.70 against Bellemeur in the semifinals, Payne dispatched Gasparrelli a 5.75 in the other semi, and both drivers duplicated their semifinal times in the final.