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It was a day of opposites for Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, the three-time and defending NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel world champions owned by HE Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani, at the 29th annual AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals on Friday. |
Reigning world champion Shawn Langdon had trouble early on but was strong in the later parts; al-Balooshi was strong early on but faced troubles late.
Langdon was fourth, and al-Balooshi 12th after the first day of qualifying for what is the 20th of 24 races making up the United States’ NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and the second of six races that comprise the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.
The eliminations are set for today. The resumption of eliminations from last week’s postponed Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals will also happen during this week’s qualifying rounds.
Langdon’s day got off to a difficult start when the silver Al-Anabi car smoked the tires in the first qualifying round.
Langdon’s was one of the early cars in the evening session, and the world champion was brilliant—his 3.774-second effort at more than 320mph was the best Top Fuel run of the day by far.
However, as the track temperature cooled, the race track improved and three drivers made quicker runs than Langdon’s. Still, Langdon is fourth and in excellent shape heading into the remaining qualifying rounds and race day.
“That second run was a great way for the Al-Anabi team to bounce back from smoking the tires in the first round,” Langdon said. “We know the Al-Anabi car is capable of making runs like that every time it goes down the race track.
“Everybody on the Al-Anabi team is working hard to get the car back to being consistent so we can make a run at defending our world championship for Sheikh Khalid and everyone in Qatar that supports our race team.”
Al-Balooshi’s day got off to an excellent start when his gold Al-Anabi car zipped right down the race track with the sixth-quickest run of the first session, placing the Dubai driver late in the order for the evening session—when conditions are best for quick runs.
The gold Al-Anabi car launched brilliantly and was on a superb run, but the car went into tire shake—the tune-up was a bit too aggressive for the race track—and al-Balooshi aborted the remainder of the run; he is 12th after the first day.
In the first qualifying session, al-Balooshi will race veteran driver Morgan Lucas in the postponed second round of eliminations from last week’s race near Charlotte, North Carolina.
“The first run on Friday afternoon was a good way to start the weekend,” al-Balooshi said. “In the night run, the car was very good early, but we had a little too much power—the car shook the tires. I feel good about our car for the rest of the week—I think we can have a very good week. Tomorrow afternoon, we finish the Charlotte race, and I like the way our car runs in the hot part of the day.”