Demke’s Vegas Trip not as Rewarding as Expected

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Las Vegas, NV – Chris Demke went to Vegas to do what he had already done. Beat Jim Whitely, and win a National event. Unfortunately he did neither. Demke had beaten Whiteley the previous weekend in the Regional final, but a timing malfunction at the finish negated the run. 

The re-run was scheduled for the third round of qualifying at the National event. The outcome did not go as planned. Then during National eliminations, after two consecutive National event wins, Demke was once again deprived of pleasure by Mr. Whiteley. 

“Although the weekend didn’t go as we wanted, it’s still Vegas and we had a good time,” said Demke. “You have to hand it to Jim Whiteley, he had the field covered and beat my butt. I spun, shook, and pedaled, but I couldn’t catch him.”

After the Regional result had been determined, it was time to go after another National Event win. The Maddern Racing Team started out from the #4 qualifying position. In the first round, Randy Eakins was first up.  Demke ran a 5.384/267.64 to take the win over Eakins’s 6.36/222.88. Kevin Watson, Mike Demke, Adam Rhoades, Joe Cole, and Ronald Mann serviced the car and loaded it up with more 801 Racing 70W oil.

Jerry Maddern worked the tune-up, and the crew rolled to the lanes towards a match up with Joey Severance.  In that round, the car improved to a 5.31/269.35 and got the win over Severance’s 5.537/226.51.

The next round once again saw Jim Whiteley as the opponent. “How many times a week do I have to beat this guy,” said Demke. It turned out to be not many at all. Demke took a small starting line advantage, but that was it. Whiteley laid down a 5.284/272.28 on the Peen Rite Car, and a 5.453/266.37 just wasn’t enough. The plan to win the Regional rerun, and another National event had been fouled.  The winning streak was over.

“The Peen Rite/801 Racing Team gave it their all. Now after racing for almost two months we are ready for a break,” said Demke.  The next couple of weeks we are going to relax and retool. We will go through the car and get ready for Houston. Starting out the year with two wins gives us a great deal of confidence, even after a weekend like this. We have some exciting things coming our way,” added Demke.  Drag Racing and excitement go hand in hand. Chris Demke and Maddern Racing aim to keep it that way, and have the time of their lives doing it.