Al-Anabi’s al-Balooshi triumphs in Colorado

Our correspondent/Denver

Dubai rookie driver Khalid al-Balooshi, near lane, approaches the finish line in the first round win of his 13-race Top Fuel career. He defeated seven-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher to get the round win

A long learning process took a dramatic but positive turn yesterday when Dubai rookie driver Khalid al-Balooshi saw the scoreboard win light in his lane for the first time in his brief 13-race career as a Top Fuel driver.  The win was the latest piece of evidence that the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Team, the two-time, defending NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel World Championship team owned by Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani, is on its way to a return to the form that won the last two Top Fuel world championships.  The Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals was the 13th of 23 races making up the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.  As the No. 9 qualifier, al-Balooshi’s gold Al-Anabi Racing team faced a formidable first-round challenge: seven-time NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel World Champion Tony Schumacher, the driver with more Top Fuel wins than any other driver in NHRA history.  With similar reaction times, the race was close all the way, but the rookie driver from Dubai, U.A.E. prevailed beating the seven-time champion 4.014 to 4.020 seconds.  Before the first round, al-Balooshi’s crew chief, Jason McCulloch, put a note on the driver’s helmet that said, “al-Balooshi, today is your day – You can do it.” Al-Balooshi wanted to place the note in the car, but he thought it would blow away so he put it on his chest on his fire-proof undershirt.   “I saw the win light, but I didn’t believe it,” al-Balooshi said.  “Before the first round, I felt good; I felt everything was ok.  The problem was I felt that way before, but we still lost. Today we won the round, and it felt very good.“  Everybody on our team, our crew chief (Jason McCulloch) and all of the guys, have been working so hard, and I am happy we won the round. I feel much better with the first-round win, but I am sorry we lost in the second round; I wanted us to get to the semifinals, but I look forward to racing again next weekend.”  The Al-Anabi Racing team will return to racing July 27-29, 2012, at the 25th annual Sonoma NHRA Nationals in Sonoma, Calif.