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Langdon in Toyota Nationals semis, moves to third in standings
Langdon in Toyota Nationals semis, moves to third in standings
Al-Anabi driver Shawn Langdon drives past the tire-smoking Terry McMillen in the first round of the Toyota NHRA Summer Nationals on Sunday in Englishtown, New Jersey.
Agencies/Englishtown, New Jersey
Reigning world champion Shawn Langdon advanced to the semi-finals 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 at the 45th annual Toyota NHRA Summer Nationals yesterday, the ninth of 24 races that make up America’s 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season. Khalid al-Balooshi was defeated in the first round. |
Langdon was the No 3 qualifier in Englishtown. He defeated Terry McMillen and Bob Vandergriff before losing to Richie Crampton when the Al-Anabi car smoked the tires almost immediately in the semi-finals. Langdon has two final rounds and two semi-final appearances in the last four races, and he moved up one spot to third place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings at Englishtown. He trails second-place Antron Brown by 68 points and leads fourth-place Spencer Massey by 40 points.
“It was a little disappointing to smoke the tires in the semi-finals,” Langdon said. “The Al-Anabi car was great car this weekend. We qualified well; we’ve been turning the corner with this tune-up and having a great, competitive car. It’s tough when you come to a track like this when the air is so good, and you make so much power. As soon as the track heats up a little but, it can get a little tricky. We just didn’t compensate enough for that track temperature. We’re there. Just like the last couple of weeks, we’re close. We just need a little race day luck. We’ll get there eventually.”
Al-Balooshi was the No 6 qualifier at the Toyota NHRA Summer Nationals; it was his second-highest qualifying effort of the season. In eliminations, al-Balooshi faced veteran driver Bob Vandergriff in weather conditions that were far warmer than the rest of the weekend. Al-Balooshi’s gold Al-Anabi dragster smoked the tires almost immediately, and Vandergriff did the same a short time later. Despite his best efforts, al-Balooshi was unable to catch the veteran Vandergriff and was eliminated in the first round. Al-Balooshi remains sixth in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He trails fifth-place Steve Torrence by 77 points and leads seventh-place Tony Schumacher by eight points.
“The Al-Anabi car was good until today,” al-Balooshi said. “I think we are very close. Everything has been fine. It surprised everybody when it smoked the tires especially Jason McCulloch (crew chief). Everybody was surprised the car smoked the tires, but sometimes when it is not your day, it is not your day. The Al-Anabi team will try again in two weeks.”