Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel driver Khalid al-Balooshi in action during his first-round race at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Illinois on Sunday. PICTURE: Ron Lewis
By Our Correspondent /Joliet, Illinois
After fining and fixing some significant mechanical issues last weekend in New Hampshire, the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Team, the three-time and defending World Championship team owned by His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani, entered this weekend’s 17th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals on Sunday, the 12h of 24 races that make up America’s 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season with high hopes.
Both Khalid al-Balooshi’s gold Al-Anabi dragster and Shawn Langdon’s silver Al-Anabi dragster saw some signs of progress this weekend, but the team still has work to do.
Langdon was the No. 12 qualifier. He made his best run of the weekend, a 3.795-second effort, to take the win over No. 5 qualifier Steve Torrence. In the second round, Langdon’s silver Al-Anabi dragster smoked the tires, and Brittany Force took the round win.
Langdon remains third in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings, but he now trails second place Antron Brown, this weekend’s race winner, by 128 points.
“The Al-Anabi team is still fighting some clutch issues,” Langdon said. “We thought we had it figured out after we made that great run in the first round, but we are still fighting a couple of issues. We aren’t quite where we need to be. We’ll do our homework during the week and hope we have it all figured out by the time we get to Norwalk next weekend.”
Al-Balooshi was the No. 8 qualifier; he raced J.R. Todd in the first round of eliminations, and the race was a battle of two tire-smoking cars. Unfortunately for the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, Todd reached the finish line a fraction of a second before al-Balooshi and won the round. Al-Balooshi dropped one spot to eighth place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standing.
“The Al-Anabi team did not have its best weekend in Joliet,” al-Balooshi said. “We made some good runs, and in the runs that were not OK, we saw some good things in some of the numbers so that is good news. Other than that, I need to forget everything that happened this weekend and get ready to race in Ohio next weekend. I hope next week will be better for our team.”
The Al-Anabi Racing team will be back in action July 4-6, 2014 at the eighth annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.
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.