CONCORD, North Carolina: Reigning World Champion Shawn Langdon and his teammate, Khalid AlBalooshi, made excellent efforts yesterday for the Qatar Al Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, the three-time and defending NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Champions owned by His Excellency, Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani.
Langdon finished second and AlBalooshi ended seventh after the first day of qualifying for the seventh annual Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals in Concord, North Carolina, the 19th of 24 races making up the United States’ NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and the first of six races that comprise the Countdown to the Championship NHRA play-offs.
Langdon’s day did not begin as planned as the silver Al Anabi car started well but smoked the tires during the run, and Langdon was 14th after the end of first session.
Later in the afternoon, it was a very different story for the World Champion Langdon, who entered the play-offs as the third seed, blasting down the track posting a brilliant 3.840-second pass at more than 317 mph and moved all the way up to second after the first day of qualifying.
“We made a really good run in the second round,” Langdon said after the qualifying.
“We were a little down on power in the first round and smoked the tires, but we came back in second and made great run,” he said hoping to improve in the main contest.
“Making strong run like that is a very positive way to go into the rest of the weekend - great job by the Al Anabi team.”
Meanwhile, AlBalooshi, the seventh seed in the play-offs, made two consistent runs on the qualifying day.
His 3.919-second effort at nearly 312 mph placed him ninth in the order after the first qualifying attempt.
In the late-afternoon pass, the gold Al Anabi car was quicker as the Dubai driver needed just 3.867 seconds to reach the finish line at 315.27 mph.
AlBalooshi who finished seventh was satisfied at the end of the first day of qualifying in North Caroline.
“I think we are in good shape,” AlBalooshi commented after the round.
“We made both runs down the track; we have a good car, and this is the way to start the weekend, I think. Our car was not the fastest car today, but at least we have a car that went down the track both times,” he said before stressing for improvement in order to obtain desirable result in the coveted competition.
“Now we just have to figure out how to make the car faster,” said the Al Anabi team’s driver.
Al Anabi Racing operates out of multiple locations in both the United States and Qatar.
In the United States, the Brownsburg, Ind.-based operation is a two-car NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series team that is managed by Alan Johnson Racing.
Sheikh Khalid’s initiative has created increased international awareness of the State of Qatar while highlighting the nation’s international sports outreach in the world.
Alan Johnson is a 15-time NHRA champion in various capacities including crew chief, team owner and team manager. For additional information on the Al Anabi Racing Team, team manager Alan Johnson or drivers Khalid AlBalooshi or Shawn Langdon, please visit www.alanabiracing.com.
THE PENINSULA
