Silver Al-Anabi driver Shawn Langdon executes a pre-run burnout to warm up the tyres in front of packed Las Vegas grandstands earlier this month. This weekend, Langdon returns to the site of his first career win looking for another victory. Photo by: Ron Lewis
CONCORD, North Carolina : The last time he was at zMAX Dragway, Qatar Al-Anabi Racing silver driver Shawn Langdon was the Top Fuel champion – it was the first Top Fuel victory of his young career.
This week, Langdon and the rest of the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, the two-time World Championship team owned by Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani, return to the site of that victory looking for another winner’s trophy.
This weekend’s fourth annual Dollar General NHRA Four Wide Nationals near Charlotte is the fifth of 24 races making up the United States’ 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.
It is the only time during the NHRA season that four cars race side-by-side during each competition round.
Qualifying is tomorrow and Saturday with eliminations set for Sunday.
In addition to Langdon’s win last September, the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing team finished first and second in the Four-Wide Nationals in 2011.
Returning to the site of his first-career win and the knowledge of the Al-Anabi team’s success at this event in 2011 make Langdon quite confident entering this weekend’s race.
“I think it’s going to be great to go back to Charlotte for the first time since I got my first win there last fall,” Langdon said.
“Going back to a place where you recently won is always good. It’s a confidence builder because you’re going back to a track where you know you can make good, strong runs.
The Al-Anabi team had good success at zMAX before I was driving for the team so I think we go back to Charlotte this weekend with great expectations. It will be a little bit different racing Four-Wide this weekend, but basically we know the same rules apply. We just need to make good, strong, consistent runs just like we did last fall; if we take care of our business, the rest will take care of itself. We are working as hard as we can to win another race for Sheikh Khalid and the people of Qatar.”
Dubai driver Khalid alBalooshi continues his sophomore season with great confidence in his gold Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team.
He enters the Dollar General NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in seventh place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings, and while he and his team have enjoyed a solid start this season, alBalooshi, his crew chief Jason McCulloch and everyone else on the team completely understand that this team has tremendous potential – it is just a matter of putting all of the pieces together at the right time in order to enjoy additional success.
“I like racing at Charlotte, and I am looking forward to this weekend, alBalooshi said.
“Our team has been very good at that track; Shawn won the race there last year, and our team has won some other races there. So I know our team can win in Charlotte this week. Our team did not have a good finish in Las Vegas, and I am sorry that happened. I know our team will keep getting better because this team is very good. We can do very good things this year, but we all just have to be patient and keep working for success. I appreciate the hard work everybody on our team is doing, and I thank Sheikh Khalid for this opportunity.”
Al-Anabi Racing operates out of multiple locations in both the United States and Qatar.
The Peninsula
