Chris Demke - US NATIONALS WRAP UP

MADDERN BOYS PRESS ON AFTER ROUND ONE INDY EXIT

Photo Courtesy of Roger Richards @ Competitionplus.com


Indianapolis, Ind. - Drag Racing is supposed to be fun. However, you must play the game with the cards you are dealt.

The Sunland, Calif. based Jerry Maddern Racing Top Alcohol Dragster team entered the first round of eliminations for the 55th NHRA Mac Tools US NATIONALS held at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind. a taste behind the magic eight ball.

After loosing their primary engine in Q-2 on Saturday morning, the Peen-Rite team decided caution and a conservative philosophy would be in order for the day. Instead of trashing in attempt to swap ‘Ludwig’ for ‘Conan’, the team took their time to ensure everything was solid for their final qualifying attempt. The qualifying was scheduled to begin Sunday morning.

Mother nature had other thoughts.

Constant rain showers Sunday morning caused NHRA officials to cancel the Top Alcohol Dragster’s final qualifying session. “The rain really caused us some headaches,” noted team clutch specialist, Adam Rhoades. “We could have used that final qualifying session to iron out all the bugs with the engine swap, but, that didn’t quite happen.”

The Maddern Racing rail wound up in the 11th qualified position, setting up a round one match-up with the potent Dana Hopewell-tuned A/Fuel Dragster of Dwayne Shields. The race was a rematch of the NHRA O’Reilly Nationals in Houston earlier this year. The end results were the same, but without a visit from the ‘drama llama’.

Shields held a sizable starting-line advantage and never looked back. His 5.32 second elapsed time was 0.060 quicker than driver Chris Demke’s 5.38 E.T. The elapsed time Demke recorded matched his qualifying time. “We had an electrical issue which caused the car to run about half-a-tenth slow,” noted long time Maddern Racing crew member, Kevin Watson. “If we had that qualifying pass back, we could have found it, but hey, that’s drag racing.”

The Demke driven Peen-Rite sponsored team will keep their tow rig in the mid-west over the next weekend as well. Crew member Mike Demke stated the team was planning on running the Division 5 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in Earlsville, Iowa this upcoming weekend. “We’ll head out to the D-5 race and try to get back on the horse we are accustomed to being on,” noted the older Demke brother. “We will then head back home to D-7 for some home cooking.”

Driver Chris Demke was animate in his belief the team still enjoyed their 2009 Indy experience. “It was my first Indy as a driver,” stated Demke. “I wish the outcome was different, but I love this team, these guys and this sport. We’ll be back for sure.”

Courtesy of CRX PROMOTIONS