Demke Chasing National Championship from Behind in Vegas

Demke Chasing National Championship from Behind in Vegas


LAS VEGAS (October 23) – As the 2013 season starts to wind down, Top Alcohol Dragster standout Chris Demke is fighting to keep his remaining national championship hopes alive. Entering this weekend’s Toyota NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway trailing points leader Jim Whiteley by 72 points puts Demke in a tough position, but his Jerry Maddern-led Peen Rite team has what it takes to come from behind.

“We’re a real long-shot, but that’s what makes it fun. Jim Whiteley can win the championship with a semifinal finish here. There’s a good chance that he will do that, but if he doesn’t, I’ll need to win Vegas and Pomona to win the championship by two points. We’ll do everything in our power to make that happen,” Demke said.

Though Chris’ runner-up finish at the Las Vegas spring race was impressive, he hopes that recent changes to the car and a build-up of data will take him one round further.

“I feel much more confident in the car entering this Vegas race. The car was still fairly new to us at the spring race. We needed to experiment with some new ideas so we made some changes going into the weekend. The car won’t be the same as it was earlier in the year. We’re still trying to figure out how to make this car work to its full potential. It might work or it might not. We’ll find out in Vegas.”

The Toyota Nationals will be the first of three consecutive races for the Peen Rite/OSI/Boost Performance Products dragster.

“We’re doing what everyone calls Vegas-Vegas-Pomona; the Toyota Nationals, a LODRS regional event the following weekend, then the Finals at Pomona. It’s a busy three weeks, but we want to get in as much racing as we can before we need to put everything away for the winter,” Chris laughed.

Demke and the Maddern Racing team have spent the last month preparing anything they’ll need for championship battle.

“After Woodburn, the hauler returned to the shop for the first time since May. We went over everything with a fine-toothed comb on the car, but we also spent a lot of time restocking the trailer. We didn’t go to Dallas or Reading this year. That gave us an opportunity to take our time preparing for this stretch of three races. Though it is a long-shot for us to win the championship, we want to have all of our ducks in a row.”


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/Boost Performance Products 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., Boost Performance Products, A1 Technologies, Boninfante Friction Inc., and Hoosier Racing Tire.