It is unusual for one race team to experience extended success at any specific race track, but for the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, the three-time and defending world championship team owned by HE Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani, this weekend’s trip to Reading, Pennsylvania could not come at a better time.

The team has won four of the last five races in Reading; reigning world champion Shawn Langdon, and his teammate Khalid al-Balooshi will look to make it five of the last six at this weekend’s 30th annual NHRA Nationals in Reading, Pennsylvania, the 22nd of 24 races making up the United States’ 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series and the fourth of six events that comprise the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs. Qualifying is set for tomorrow and Saturday with eliminations scheduled for Sunday. 

Langdon enters this race as defending champion. In 2012, al-Balooshi won his first career Top Fuel race in Reading. Larry Dixon won for Sheikh Khalid’s team in 2009 and 2010, and in 2011, Del Worsham went to the final round but did not win the race. Maple Grove Raceway is a place where the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Team feels right at home. 

And why not? All that success is comforting, especially as the season is winding down with just three races remaining to determine the 2014 world champion. That’s exactly what Langdon wants to be.

After reaching the final round in last week’s race near St. Louis, he is second in points, just 57 behind the standard being set by seven-time world champ Tony Schumacher, and after solving some issues with the car, the reigning world champ is eager to continue his surge towards the top of the point standings—yet he knows it won’t be easy. 

“The competition level in Top Fuel is so tough,” Langdon said. “You’re scratching and clawing to gain an advantage every time you make a run down the track. We made seven really good runs down the race track last weekend in St. Louis.

“It was a top-five car every time it went down the track last weekend with the exception of the final when we were a little too aggressive.  Now I feel like we have a race car like we had at the end of last year when we won the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel championship.

“That’s definitely a good feeling—it gives us a lot of confidence. We didn’t get the win in St. Louis last weekend, but I think we got a little bit of a win because now we have our car back, and with the good points weekend we had, we are back in the Mello Yello championship hunt again.”

Maple Grove Raceway will always be a special place for al-Balooshi because he captured his first-career Top Fuel title at the suburban Pennsylvania track. And a return visit could not come at a better time for the Dubai native. 

After reaching the final round at the first race of the Countdown, al-Balooshi has lost in the first round of eliminations twice and now stands eighth in points. Al-Balooshi’s season goals are more modest, but the Reading return will still feel good.

“I won my first race over there in Reading so it will always feel good to go back there,” al-Balooshi said. “When I get to that place, I know I have won there. I know I can do it. I know our team can be one of the best in the show, and that is always a good feeling. 

“We are eighth in points now. I don’t know if we have a shot to win the championship now; we are way behind, but we can still finish in the top five.  I think we can do that. If something really crazy happens, and we can make a big jump in the points, I don’t know, but really, I think our team should try for the top five in points.”