YNot’s hopes at a four-peat...

YNot’s hopes at a four-peat dashed by Demke

Feb. 18, 2010 – YNot Racing Top Alcohol Dragster Driver Jim Whiteley went to the Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals with hopes of doing what no other driver has done at Pomona: four-peat. Whiteley was the returning champ on the track two times over. He took a win at the NHRA Finals in November 2008, returned to the winner’s circle in February 2009 for the Winternationals, and finished the 2009 season with a win at the NHRA Finals in Pomona.

“It’s a good track for us,” said Crew Chief Norm Grimes, who considers Pomona his home track.

The J&A Service Top Alcohol Dragster qualified well on its first run of the weekend. Grimes said the positives early on helped the team work on some different combinations that should be helpful down the road.

Whiteley defeated Del Cox, Jr., in the first round with a 0.052 reaction time, 5.311 ET at 271.02 miles per hour. But the quarterfinal eliminations pitted neighbor against neighbor. Grimes’ engine-building shop borders Maddern Racing Peen Rite Top Alcohol Dragster’s quarters in Sun Valley, Calif.

“They ran very well and we did not,” explained Grimes. “All the guys and Jim did their jobs perfectly and in hindsight we just needed to have had the car hopped up just a little more.”

The Jerry Maddern-owned dragster is driven by Chris Demke. Whiteley was 3-0 against Demke prior to Sunday morning’s match-up. Whiteley and Demke left the tree with identical reaction times, but the Peen Rite Dragster finished with a 5.325 ET at 269.13 miles per hour to Whiteley’s 5.370 at 268.71 mph.
The YNot Racing team heads to Phoenix for a divisional race Feb. 26-28. This is the race YNot Racing “goes international.” Germany’s Gittli Koller will join the crew as a consultant for an exchange of racing knowledge. Koller is a 17-year veteran of drag racing who most recently crewed for Peter Schöfer Racing, a German Top Alcohol Dragster team.