Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team crew chief Jason McCulloch, left, pointing, tells driver Khalid al-Balooshi which direction to back up prior to his evening qualifying session as assistant crew chief Ronnie Thompson, behind, team manager Alan Johnson, middle, and team owner His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani, middle right, and Al-Anabi Alcohol Funny Car driver Frank Manzo, right, look on. (Photo Courtesy: Gary Nastase)
By Our Correspondent/Sonoma, California
Second-year Top Fuel driver Khalid al-Balooshi continues to impress in his second season with the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, the two-time NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Champions owned by His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani.
The Dubai native is fourth after two rounds of qualifying at the 26th annual Sonoma NHRA Nationals some 45 miles north of San Francisco, the 15th of 24 events making up the United States’ 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.
While his first run was not as good as expected, al-Balooshi made the most of his opportunity in the evening session. With Sheikh Khalid watching from behind the car, al-Balooshi blistered the northern-California race track with a phenomenal 3.789-second pass at nearly 321 mph. Al-Balooshi is fourth at the mid-point of qualifying just .024 seconds off the mark set by provisional No 1 qualifier David Grubnic.
“Our Al-Anabi car made a very good run tonight, and I am very happy,” al-Balooshi said. “Jason (crew chief Jason McCulloch) set the car up perfectly for the night run, and the car did exactly what he said it would do. Every time we make a good run, everyone on our team is happy, but tonight, with Sheikh Khalid here, it was very special to show him what we can do.”
Silver Al-Anabi driver Shawn Langdon was brilliant in the first round with a 3.797-second pass at nearly 322 mph. In the evening session, Langdon earned the right to run in the final pair of cars and take advantage of the coolest track conditions of the weekend.
Five cars had already run quicker than Langdon’s early run relegating him to sixth place.
With all eyes on the Al-Anabi dragster and the car tuned for a No 1 qualifier run, Langdon launched, but the tires lost traction with the race track and Langdon was unable to improve on his earlier run; he is sixth after the first day of qualifying.
“The Al-Anabi team made an excellent run late this afternoon,” Langdon said. “In the night session, we were going for the No 1 qualifier position, but we just missed the setup.
“The air got pretty cold, and our setup was just a little bit off. We are in a great position for race day, though, and we are looking forward to racing on Sunday. It’s great to have Sheikh Khalid here in Sonoma with us, and I hope we can put on a great show for him this weekend.”
