Demke Rebounds with Seattle Regional Win

Demke Rebounds with Seattle Regional Win

SEATTLE, Wash. (August 19, 2013) – After qualifying No. 1 for the eight-car field, Chris Demke and his Jerry Maddern-owned Peen Rite/Operational Solutions/Cleanboost Oil Top Alcohol Dragster team pulled off their first LODRS regional event title of the season. Winning at Seattle’s Pacific Raceways couldn’t have come at a better time, as Demke is in the middle of a tense points battle with 2012 TAD National champ Jim Whiteley.

Qualifying started with a simple part breaking on the burnout, preventing Demke from making a run. Knowing that a third qualifying was questionable due to weather, tuner Adam Rhoades set up the Peen Rite car to make a clean pass for the second session. A 5.35 was the result – good for No. 1 at the time. Chris was bumped down to No. 4 by the time he rolled through the water for the final qualifying run, but a 5.32 put him back on top going into eliminations against Megan McKernan.

“The car broke a part before we were able to make our first qualifying run. We went out and qualified No. 1on the second run. We put a conservative tune-up in it to put a good number on the board after not making the first run. That put us on the top. Then everyone was stepping up in the final session. We just squeaked ahead of No. 2 qualifier Shawn Cowie,” Chris recalled.

Chris laid down a string of 5.32s throughout eliminations – 5.321 against McKernan, 5.325 next to a red-lighting Ray Martin, and a 5.320 in the finals against Cleanboost team mate Johnny Ahten, who ran 5.31 at 268 MPH in the semifinals.

“Johnny Ahten and his team really stepped up in the semifinals,” Chris said. “When I saw him lay down low E.T. and top speed of the meet, I was taken by surprise. I haven’t been that nervous going into a final in a long time. I’ve given more people their first win in a final than I can count and I knew Johnny hadn’t won one yet. I was thinking ‘Not again today, no way I’m letting this happen.’ I knew I had to dig deep and do the best I could. I knew the car could run a number, but I was afraid that I would get tree’d and hand Johnny his first win.

“My hat’s off to Johnny and his team,” Chris said. “They’ve stepped up their program significantly lately. Johnny can cut a good light and the way their car was running, I figured they had a great chance to run a good number and take the win. Their car had a hole out and our car ran a 5.32 to take the win.”

Demke’s Seattle regional win pads his national points lead over Jim Whiteley. The two powerhouse blown alcohol teams will continue to do battle at Maddern Racing’s next event, the prestigious 59th Annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, August 29th-Sept. 2nd.

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/Cleanboost Oil 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., Cleanboost Oil, A1 Technologies, Boninfante Friction Inc., and Hoosier Racing Tire.