Langdon extends Points lead with Victory at Maple Grove
RACE WINNER: Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (silver)
Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 2 qualifier at the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals. During the Friday evening qualifying session, Langdon recorded a 3.776-second pass at 325.14 mph and was just four thousandths of a second shy of his third-consecutive No. 1 qualifier. Langdon has qualified in the top-five positions at 17 of the 22 events this season and has six No. 1 qualifiers.
Eliminations: Langdon won the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals – it was his sixth win of the season and the seventh of his career. Langdon continued the Al-Anabi Racing Team’s Reading domination with four wins and five final rounds in the last five races there. Langdon smoked the tires in the first round against Leah Pruett and appeared to have lost when her car had problems, and Langdon was able to get the round win. Langdon got the most of his lucky break and defeated Bob Vandergriff, Doug Kalitta and Antron Brown on his way to the winner’s circle. Langdon has six wins in 10 final-round appearances in 22 races this season.
Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon continues to lead the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. His lead over second-place Doug Kalitta is now 83 points with two races remaining in the season.
Langdon on Reading: “First round, we were just trying to make a good, safe run. I pedaled the Al-Anabi car five or six times. I could see Leah out there in front of me, and then her chutes came out. I’m trying to get this thing to recover, and it is all over the race track. I got back to the pit, talked to Alan (team manager Alan Johnson) and Brian (crew chief Brian Husen), and they said, ‘well, we won’t have to worry about that anymore because the car won’t smoke the tires the rest of the day.” That’s what it did. We definitely had a little bit of luck there, and you need that on Sunday. If we had that much luck, I think it was meant to be for us to win today. That just shows how great this Al-Anabi team is; to be able to come back like that. We took advantage of the opportunity. It was a great job for this whole team; it’s a critical time to get that win right now.”
Khalid alBalooshi – Al- Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (gold)
Qualifying: Khalid alBalooshi was the No. 13 qualifier at the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals. During the first-round of qualifying on Saturday, alBalooshi posted a 3.843-second effort at 320.89 mph.
Eliminations: AlBalooshi made an excellent run but lost to Brandon Bernstein in the first round of eliminations.
Unofficial Point Standings: AlBalooshi remains eighth in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He trails seventh-place Clay Millican by nine points and leads ninth-place Bob Vandergriff by 36 points with two races remaining in the season.
AlBalooshi on Reading: “Today was not the best day for our team, but we are all happy for Shawn and the silver team for winning the race. Our Al-Anabi car made a very good run in the first round. It just wasn’t good enough. I am sorry our day was not good, but this is racing. I know our car is still one of the best in the show. We have two more races to move up in the points; I know everyone on our team will do his best in the last two races, and everything will be OK.”
Next Race: The Al-Anabi Racing team will be back in action Oct. 25-27 at the Toyota NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas, the fifth of six races that comprise the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs. For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com. For additional information on the Al-Anabi Racing Team, please visit www.alanabiracing.com.
