Racing is dangerous. We see those words written time and again when crashes occur, when people die behind the wheel. Even when racing the clock – often when racing the clock as primary competition – stuff happens; machinery fails; people die.
The face of Automotive Racing Products (ARP), the Ventura, California-based purveyor of fasteners to the trade, Chris Raschke lost his life piloting Speed Demon III on the Bonneville Salt Flats on Sunday, August 3. His loss of life was confirmed by the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), which sanctions the annual trek to the border of Utah and Nevada by those who chase and overcome land speed records.
Speed Demon, one of the quickest wheel-driven streamliners trying to conquer the depleted salt at Bonneville, had teething issues when the SCTA meet opened August 2. Raschke was making his first true attempts after a Saturday shakedown in this vehicle when, according to those on-site, the piston-powered Speed Demon became airborne at about 300mph at the 2.5-mile mark. Despite quick efforts by medical staff on the salt, Raschke, 60, could not be saved.
Born in Ventura, Raschke, a record-setting land-speed racer before joining the Speed Demon team, became involved in motorsport early in life as the first employee of Ventura Raceway, where he also competed in dirt-track racing. Later working under engine builder Kenny Duttweiler, Raschke honed his fabrication and mechanical capabilities. He joined ARP in 1996 and ultimately served as the company’s director of sales and marketing. In that capacity he was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of fasteners and his quick wit.
When his good friend George Poteet passed in 2024 of a pulmonary embolism, Raschke took on the duties as driver of Speed Demon, the machine that took Poteet to speeds in excess of 400 miles per hour; he erased that 400mph mark more than 50 times before his death at age 76. Raschke jumped at the chance to work again with Duttweiler, who has responsibilities of updating and maintaining Speed Demon’s motive power.
As a member of the Speed Demon team, Raschke had achieved a personal best exit speed on the salt of 459.734 mph; together, the team was pushing towards an historic 500 mph record attempt during this race meeting. It was Raschke’s second season succeeding Poteet as Speed Demon’s driver. The streamliner was in its third incarnation. In last year’s SCTA meeting, Raschke won the Hot Rod Magazine Trophy with the highest five-mile speed of 446.716 mph.
A devoted family man, Chris Raschke is survived by his wife Connie Patterson and their three children: Kenneth, Kristopher and Carly. The Speed Demon team has requested: “At this time, we ask everyone to please respect Chris’ family, fiends and the Speed Demon team. We are deeply devastated.”
So very sad however Anne your piece is most through that I have come across. Thank you for the many insights