Qatar Al-Anabi’s Langdon sets track record

Agencies/Bristol, Tennessee

Al-Anabi silver driver Shawn Langdon set the Bristol Dragway elapsed time record and had the quickest pass of the entire race weekend with his first-round win today - he didn’t win the race, but the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Team, the two-time, defending NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel World Championship team owned by HE Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani, has solid evidence that the team continues to get closer and closer to success. The just-completed Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals was the 10th of 23 races making up the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.Shawn Langdon was the No. 9 qualifier at the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. Langdon defeated Bob Vandergriff in the first round of eliminations with a brilliant 3.796-second pass; it was the quickest pass of the entire Bristol Dragway event. Langdon was first off the starting line in the second round, but Antron Brown ran him down and won the round by one hundredth of a second.Langdon moves up one spot to seventh place in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel point standings. He trails sixth-place Doug Kalitta by 70 points and leads eighth-place Brandon Bernstein by 31 points.“We lost in the second round, but we are looking at the positives from our weekend,” Langdon said. “We set the track elapsed-time record and had the quickest pass of the weekend with our first-round win today, and most of our runs were good, solid passes. So the evidence is there; the Al-Anabi team continues to improve as a race team, and we are staying patient. Patience is key for all of us, and we are getting closer to success each week. Soon, the Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team will make Sheikh Khalid proud of our efforts.”In the Al-Anabi gold car, Khalid alBalooshi was the No. 13 qualifier at the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. Unfortunately, alBalooshi, the rookie driver from Dubai, lost to veteran Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta in the first round of eliminations. AlBalooshi remains 13th in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel point standings. He trails 12th place Terry McMillen by 37 points and leads 14th-place Cory McClenathan by 184 points.“Everybody on the Al-Anabi team is still working as hard as he can and doing a good job,” alBalooshi said. “We know we will find out luck one day, but we have to stay patient until our day comes. I thank Sheikh Khalid for this opportunity, and I hope we can win some rounds for him very soon.”The Al-Anabi Racing team will return to racing June 29 - July 1, 2012 at the 14th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Joliet.