Demke Keeps National Event Final Streak Alive
LAS VEGAS, NV – A final round showing at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals couldn’t have come at a better time for Chris 
Demke and his Peen Rite/OSI/801 Racing Top Alcohol Dragster team. Coming off a first round loss at the Vegas regional and just one qualifying run this weekend, Demke was able to turn on the win light three times before falling to 801 Racing teammate Joey Severance in the final round by just over a foot.
Due to a low car count, TAD qualifying was cut to just two sessions instead of the national event standard three. Though he was able to click off a 5.44 to put him in the show during the final session on Saturday, Chris didn’t even have a time on the board after Friday. An empty air bottle prevented the Maddern Racing entry from making a qualifying run in the opening session, as Chris explains.
“We go up for the first qualifying session and crew member Kevin Watson turned on the air bottle. I hit a button on the steering wheel to make sure there’s air – no air. We usually have a spare air bottle in the tool tray but we forgot it on this run. In hindsight, we should’ve at least started the car and taken the green light so we would be on the run order. Now we’re down to one session and we’re not even on the qualifying sheet. We went into the final session with a conservative tune-up that we knew would make it go down the track. It ran 5.44, which ended up being good enough for fifth.”
That lined Demke up with asphalt drag racing rookie Ashley Sanford first round.
“I was way more nervous going into that round than I should’ve been, due to a lack of run data for the weekend and racing someone new. Everything went well; no games on the starting line and she ripped off a .025 light, which I certainly commend her for. I think she’s got a good future in the category. We ran a 5.38 to move on, so we were happy about that, even though it did hurt two pistons,” Demke said.
Team owner Jerry Maddern and the team spent Saturday night preparing the car for a long day of eliminations on Sunday. Consistency followed on raceday. Second round saw Demke beat Aaron Olivarez with another 5.38. The Californian driver used a big holeshot and 5.40 run to move past Megan McKernan’s 5.53. Fellow blown alcohol driver Joey Severance would be his final round opponent.
“For the final round, we turned the screws on it and shortened the wick. It hopped up and was on what appeared to be a mid-to-high 5.3 run. Unfortunately a lifter broke 2.9 seconds into the run. It made it to the finish line but you could tell it was hurt. I ran 5.444 and Severance ran 5.454. Joey got me on the starting line and won by three thousandths of a second. It was disappointing to lose but we kept our national event final round record alive at six final rounds. We got our bearing problem solved so we’re ready to go to the next race and win some more rounds,” Demke said after the race.
Chris was quick to thank the people who had the Peen Rite/OSI/801 Racing dragster running mean all weekend – team owner Jerry Maddern, crew members Kevin Watson, Mike Demke, Adam Rhoades, Ron Mann, Greg Rice, and Mike Garcia. The Maddern Racing team was joined by Patrick Hale, creator of QUARTERJr. and Nitro Tuner software.
