With the Wind at their backs, Team Al-Anabi Heads to Seattle
Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (silver):
Reigning NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel world champion Shawn Langdon enters the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals in third place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He trails second-place Antron Brown by 112 points and leads fourth-place Tony Schumacher by 154 points.
When he reached the semifinals at Sonoma Raceway last weekend, Langdon clinched his spot in the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs. After debuting a new car on Friday of last week, Langdon was the No. 10 qualifier, but in eliminations, the car came to life. Langdon defeated J.R Todd, points leader Doug Kalitta and Tony Schumacher before losing to his teammate, Khalid alBalooshi, in the finals.
Langdon has advanced to at least the semifinals at seven of the last 11 races. He won his first race of the season and the ninth of his career last month in Bristol, Tenn. He has one win (Bristol), four final rounds (Charlotte, Topeka, Norwalk and Sonoma) and two semifinal appearances (Houston and Englishtown) in the last 11 races.
Langdon enters this weekend’s race in Seattle atop ESPN Analyst Mike Dunn’s “power rankings.” The Al-Anabi Team won at Pacific Raceways in 2011 with driver Del Worsham. One year ago in Seattle, Langdon was the No. 1 qualifier; he defeated Troy Buff and Steve Torrence before losing to Morgan Lucas in the semifinals.
On Tuesday, Aug. 5, Langdon will be in St. Louis to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Tuesday-night Major League Baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. Prior to the game, Langdon will visit with some St. Louis media outlets to talk about the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park in late September. Langdon was an accomplished baseball player in high school and turned down a chance to play college baseball when he decided to pursue a Motorsports career. Throwing out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game is a life-long dream.
Langdon has been a solid qualifier this season; he has qualified in the top-five positions at nine of the 15 races; his average qualifying position in 2014 is 5.27. He has three No. 1 qualifiers this season and 16 in his career. He was an excellent qualifier last year when his average qualifying position was 3.75.
Langdon prior to Seattle:
“The Sonoma race weekend was great for the Al-Anabi team. That (All Al-Anabi) final round was really a win-win situation. We were looking to get a win for the silver team; I wanted to get into the winner’s circle to share it with my Dad after he won earlier in the day, but it just wasn’t meant to be. In the grand scheme of things, everything worked out how it was supposed to. The gold team did a great job and got the win. We definitely have both these Al-Anabi cars turned around. This is about the time we started getting hot last year so it’s the perfect time to get these two cars turned around to get ready for the Countdown (Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs).
“I think you can call one good race a turn-a-round. When we won in Bristol in June, we were able to get the win, but we were just making runs down the track and happened to race the right people at the right time. We did have a little bit of that Sunday in Sonoma, but we were able to make some pretty strong runs on Sunday in the heat. We struggled a little bit smoking the tires down track, and that’s what happened in the final. When you smoke the tires early in the run, you might need to make some major changes, but when you smoke the tires a little down track, that’s just a minor adjustment.
“It’s great to be in Countdown, but we still need to track down Doug Kalitta and try to get that No. 1 seed for the playoffs. It will be very difficult to do that with just three races left in the regular season, but I wouldn’t say anything is out of the question. We need to average gaining 50 points a race so that won’t be easy, but it’s doable. We have lost out on a lot of qualifying bonus points this season so collecting those would help a lot.
“I am really excited to throw out the first pitch in St. Louis next week. I played baseball for my entire childhood. I played in so many games from little league all the way through high school, and I’ve always wanted to throw out a first pitch at a Major League Baseball game. I’m looking forward to getting out on the field next Tuesday, and I hope we can get some of those St. Louis Cardinals fans out to Gateway Motorsports Park in late September to check out some NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing. I’m already working on getting warmed up for it!”
Khalid alBalooshi, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (gold):
Third-year Top Fuel driver Khalid alBalooshi enters the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals in eighth place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He trails seventh-place Brittany Force by 23 points and leads ninth-place Richie Crampton by 49 points.
AlBalooshi won the 27th annual NHRA Sonoma Nationals last weekend in Sonoma, Calif. It was his second win of the season and the fourth of his career. He was the No. 8 qualifier, but on Sunday, the gold Al-Anabi car was stellar. He defeated Billy Torrence, Clay Millican, Richie Crampton and his teammate, Shawn Langdon, on his way to the winner’s circle. The win was extra special because Sunday was his 35th birthday. The 2014 season marks the first time that alBalooshi has recorded multiple Top Fuel wins in the same season.
AlBalooshi has swept the NHRA races in California so far this season. He won the season-opening NHRA Circle K Winternationals in Pomona, Calif. in February and last weekend’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals. Last season, alBalooshi’s teammate, Shawn Langdon, swept all three California races winning the Circle K Winternationals, the Sonoma Nationals and the season ending NHRA Auto Club Finals in Pomona, Calif. So the Al-Anabi Racing Team has won the last five NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events in the state of California.
AlBalooshi prior to Seattle:
“Last weekend was a very good race for our team. It was good to win the race for everybody on our team. I have been saying we have our hot rod back, and last week, we were one of the best cars in the show. Jason (crew chief Jason McCulloch) told me he found something in the tune-up. He told me, ‘Balooshi, the car is not going to smoke the tires. The car will go down the track.’ The car did exactly what Jason said it would do. At Norwalk(Ohio), Jason told me, ‘Balooshi, we found our car. We have our race car back.’ After that we went to Denver and had to change everything on the car. We did not forget what we found. We have our hot rod back.
“I feel way better about the points now. Before last race, I was not sure we would make the top 10 (Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs) I was thinking about it. We started the year No. 1 and then went down to No. 9 and very close to No. 10. I did not know what was going on. After Sonoma, we are in much better place in the points, but we still need to get better and better and better.
“In Seattle, we need to keep it going. We have a good car. We need to keep winning rounds. We need to keep thinking we have a championship car. We can fight for the win because we have a championship car.”
