Team Al-Anabi Heads to Reading
The Al-Anabi Team has won three Reading races in the last five years. Shawn Langdon won last year, and the team won at Reading in 2009 and 
’10 with driver Larry Dixon. In addition, the team advanced to the 2011 Reading final round with driver Del Worsham. Last year, alBalooshi was the No. 13 qualifier and lost to Brendon Bernstein in the first round.
Langdon prior to Reading:
“We are looking forward to getting back to Reading this weekend. We won there last year, and looking at the weather forecast, it’s looking like the conditions could be really fast. The weather looks good. It looks like the air will be great, and if that happens, I see some low 3.70-second runs happening this weekend. If that happens, it will be an exciting time for drivers and crew chiefs, and especially the fans, because we can really throw down and have some good racing. We could even see some records set at Maple Grove Raceway this weekend.
“The competition level in Top Fuel is so tough. You’re scratching and clawing to gain an advantage every time you make a run down the track. The Al-Anabi team found and fixed a couple of problems in the last couple of weeks. The car really just wasn’t quite right, and we were able to fix a major problem early last weekend. The car showed great results after that. We made seven really good runs down the race track. It was a top-five car every time it went down the track last weekend with the exception of the final when we were a little too aggressive.
“Now I feel like we have a race car like we had at the end of last year when we won the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel championship. That’s definitely a good feeling – it gives us a lot of confidence. We didn’t get the win in St. Louis last weekend, but I think we got a little bit of a win because now we have our car back, and with the good points weekend we had, we are back in the Mello Yello championship hunt again.
“We have three races left in the season, and we are three rounds behind. Our motto is still ‘we just need a chance.’ Nobody else is going to dictate our championship hopes. We just have to go out there, win rounds, win races and keep it in our hands.”
AlBalooshi prior to Reading:
“We started the Countdown with three straight races where we had some kind of problem with the race track. I hope we can go to Reading and have a good race on a good track. I hope our team can have a good weekend over there. We started the Countdown and went to the final round in the first race. Then we lost in the first round at the next two races. We need to get back to making the kind good runs we know the Al-Anabi team can make – we are going to do the best that we can do.
“I won my first race over there in Reading so it will always feel good to go back there. When I get to that place, I know I have won there. I know I can do it. I know our team can be one of the best in the show, and that is always a good feeling.
“We are eighth in points now. I don’t know if we have a shot to win the championship now; we are way behind, but we can still finish in the top five. I think we can do that. If something really crazy happens, and we can make a big jump in the points, I don’t know, but really, I think our team should try for the top five in points.”
