Maddern Racing
Demke Defending Jegs Allstars Title at Route 66 Nationals
JOLIET, IL – Just weeks after driving the Peen Rite/Operational Solutions/801 Racing Top Alcohol Dragster to a final round finish at 
Route 66 Raceway’s NHRA regional event, Chris Demke is returning to the Windy City this weekend to defend his title as the Jegs Allstars TAD champion. The veteran blown alcohol driver is setting his sights on taking both the O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 Nationals Wally and the coveted Allstars trophy home to Southern California. To do that, Demke and his team are taking all of the steps necessary to make the weekend flow seamlessly.
“Rather than most of the crew showing up the day before the race, they’re showing up two days ahead of time to get everything in order for the weekend. We want to make sure everything is ready to go. It’s a busy race – to win everything, it takes two runs Friday, three runs Saturday, and four runs on Sunday,” said Demke, racing in his sixth Jegs Allstars competition.
Demke Reaches Fourth 2013 Final Round, Takes Points Lead
JOLIET, IL – Maddern Racing driver Chris Demke leaves the Burndown at Sundown NHRA regional event with the national points lead 
after reaching his fourth final round of the 2013 season. The Californian team lost in the finals to first-time winner Brandon Booher after setting the two quickest ETs of the race in prior rounds.
“The team and I certainly wanted to win. This is our fourth final this season and our fourth runner-up. We’re bound to win one soon. I might never win one again or I might win out the rest of the season. Either way, there’s no place I’d rather be than strapped in that race car, getting ready to make a run,” Demke said.
Demke Looking for Points and Redemption at Burndown at Sundown
JOLIET, IL – Top Alcohol Dragster driver Chris Demke enters the upcoming Burndown at Sundown NHRA regional event placed 
second in national points. A late-round finish this weekend could boost him to the top, ahead of blown alcohol rival Jim Whiteley. In addition to it being a points-earning race, Demke and the Maddern Racing team will use the opportunity to prepare for their Jegs Allstars title defense at the Route 66 Nationals at the end of June.
“It’s sort of a test session, but I’m not going to discount the importance of earning points for the regional event. We’ve struggled at regional events this year, so we want to add as many points as we can this weekend,” said Demke, who is fifth in West Region points after first round losses at the Firebird and Las Vegas regional events.
Demke Adds Third Runner-up Finish to 2013 Score
and reaching his third final round of the year at last weekend’s Kansas Nationals. The California driver ultimately fell to 2003 national champion Alan Bradshaw.Demke Trying to Add Another Highlight to Heartland History
TOPEKA, KS – Top Alcohol Dragster frontrunner Chris Demke is entering the Kansas Nationals this weekend with assurance that his 
Jerry Maddern-owned car will make clean runs all weekend long. The Peen Rite/OSI/801 Racing blown alcohol dragster is coming off of a semifinal finish at Charlotte and number two qualifying position at the last race in Houston. Possibly as important as strong performances are healthy performances.
“I’m confident that our motor issues are behind us,” Demke claimed. “We proved that at Charlotte and on the two runs we made at Houston. We brought the car back to the shop, and for the first time in many months, the motor that was in the car was able to stay in the car. For Topeka, we can just concentrate on making the car go fast.”
The Southern California team is one of the few west coast teams making the trip to the heartland to race with some of the strongest A/Fuel cars in the country. Demke hopes to make the best of the trip by adding another highlight to Maddern Racing’s history at Heartland Park Topeka.
Demke Out Early in Houston
BAYTOWN, TX – Maddern Racing, a team usually very capable of powering through to success in the face of adversity, was unable to 
turn a #2 qualifying position into late-round results at the rain-plagued O’Reilly Spring Nationals in Houston last weekend. A variety of problems came together to set the Top Alcohol Dragster team back a step.
Knowing they were short a qualifying session going into the race, the team set the car up to make a strong yet conservative pass during Friday’s sole qualifying session. Driver Chris Demke piloted the Peen Rite/OSI/801 Racing dragster to the second qualifying position, 5.36 at 264 mph, sitting behind rival Jim Whiteley.
“It was tough having only one qualifying session, but every other team was in the same situation. The track condition was vastly different from qualifying on Friday to eliminations on Sunday morning. After Friday’s qualifying run, we had the car set up aggressively, anticipating better conditions for Saturday’s qualifying session. Unfortunately it rained all day Saturday,” Demke said.
Demke Continues Spring Tour in Houston
BAYTOWN, TX – Top Alcohol Dragster standout Chris Demke rolls into Royal Purple Raceway this weekend with further confidence in his Peen Rite/OSI/801 Racing dragster following season-best runs at the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte last weekend. The Californian made the cross-country trip to run quick and finish ahead of rival blown alcohol competitor Jim Whiteley. Demke and team successfully checked off both of those goals.
The weekend began with a pair of low five-thirty laps to qualify sixth in a field of nineteen of the nation’s top blown alcohol and A/Fuel Dragsters. Demke put chassis builder Dan Page on the trailer first round with a deciding 5.30 to 5.42 victory. That set up a marquee match-up with Jim Whiteley in the next elimination round.
“As everybody knows, it’s always a big race when our team matches up with Jim Whiteley and the YNot team. Their car had been running high five-twenties in air that I expected it to run five-nineteens and twenties in, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect. That was when we turned a knob on the car that the old one would’ve never responded to. It ended being the quickest pass on the new chassis, and it couldn’t have come at a better time,” Chris explained.
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.
Demke, Peen Rite TAD Running Clean and Mean in Vegas
LAS VEGAS, NV – Top Alcohol Dragster driver Chris Demke enters this weekend’s SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals with continued 
optimism. His Jerry Maddern-led Peen Rite/OSI/801 Racing team used last weekend’s NHRA LODRS regional race as a test event following a rough Phoenix regional race. Though it might not look like it from the outside, it was a successful outing for the California team.
“We would have rather won the race than lost first round, but we went out there more to test than to race. One of our goals was to not hurt any parts. We made one run in testing, three runs in qualifying, and first round of eliminations without hurting parts, so from that perspective it was a success. Now we’ll be back at the national event and hopefully we can get a little more aggressive with the tune-up. Of course the goal is still to not hurt any parts, but the other goal is always to win,” Demke said.
Demke Out Early in Phoenix
CHANDLER, AZ – It’s safe to say that Chris Demke and the California-based Maddern Racing Top Alcohol Dragster team have had 
better racing weekends than the one they just went through at the LODRS West Region opener at Firebird Raceway. An escalating problem within the car’s oiling system prevented the team from progressing through eliminations as they would have liked.
“The motor wasn’t happy all through qualifying. I pedaled it to a 5.92 first run and 5.42 on the second run. The rod bearings were blackened after the run so we swapped motors. I had to pedal it again in the final qualifying session and ran 5.45. Again, more blackened rod bearings. Rather than continue to damage parts, we made the decision to skip eliminations and head home. We qualified sixth – it wasn’t worth it to damage more parts,” Chris said.
