Demke Runner-Up to Returning Cowie at Woodburn

Demke Runner-Up to Returning Cowie at Woodburn

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.