WARM-UP: Khalid al-Balooshi, near lane, makes a qualifying run in front of packed grandstands on Saturday at the Dollar General NHRA Four-Wide Nationals near Charlotte, North Carolina. Al-Balooshi’s teammate Shawn Langdon is in the next lane, and two other cars in the far lanes. (Photo courtesy: Gary Nastase)

By Sports Reporter/Baytown, Texas


The season began with a flourish for the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, the two-time World Championship team owned by His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani.
Second-year driver Khalid alBalooshi won four rounds of racing in the season’s first three races and seemed destined to follow his rookie year with a sensational sophomore season.
This weekend’s 26th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Springnationals near Houston is the sixth of 24 races making up the United States’ 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. Qualifying is on Friday and Saturday with eliminations set for Sunday.  
After winning four rounds in three races and equaling his round win total in 17 races last year, al-Balooshi suffered first-round losses at each of the last two events. In Las Vegas earlier this month, the car malfunctioned, and al-Balooshi smoked the tires almost immediately after the run began.
This past weekend at the Dollar General NHRA Four-Wide Nationals where four cars run side-by-side at the same time, al-Balooshi lost in the first round when the other drivers left the starting line before he did. Although al-Balooshi’s run was better than two of the others, he lost the race because they left the starting line before him and therefore reached the finish line first. The four-wide format is difficult for the second-year driver.
“Our Al-Anabi car was very good last weekend in Charlotte,” al-Balooshi said. “What happened in the first round with the start was my fault, and I am sorry for that. I have to do better starting the race, but I have to remind myself I am still learning. I want to be perfect, but it is only my second year in the car.
“When you are staging the car with only one other car, you only look at your light and the other person’s light. In the Four-Wide race, you have to look at the lights for three other drivers. You keep watching the lights to see if everyone is ready, but still somebody is not ready so that is the problem. It was hard for me, and I am sorry I did not do a good job.”
Despite the setback, this sophomore driver from Dubai is optimistic about this weekend’s race in Texas because the Al-Anabi Racing Team has had some excellent results at Royal Purple Raceway, site of this weekend’s event.
Two years ago at this event, the race concluded with an all-Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel final round in which Del Worsham clipped Larry Dixon to take the title, and in 2010, Dixon won the race for the Al-Anabi team. In addition, both Al-Anabi cars enter this weekend’s race running very well so there is definitely reason for optimism, and that is the perfect way to put a difficult weekend behind him.
“In Houston, I am going to forget what happened in Charlotte,” al-Balooshi said. “I am going to start new this weekend. I want to only focus on my car and what I need to do for our team. I think my car will be faster this weekend, too. Our car is very good, and Shawn’s car is also running very well. I am looking forward to racing again this weekend. And I thank Sheikh Khalid for the opportunity to drive his car.”