Al-Anabi Racing Ready for the Last Race of 2014
Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (silver)
Reigning NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel world champion Shawn Langdon enters the 50th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals, the last of six races that comprise the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, in fourth place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel Point standings. He trails third-place J.R. Todd by 22 points and leads fifth-place Doug Kalitta by one point. The second through sixth-place positions in the point standings are separated by 37 points.
Langdon prior to Pomona
“Pomona is always a fun race for the Al-Anabi team because a lot of friends and family come out to that race. It can be hectic at times, but I get one of those “home” feelings when we go back to Pomona every year. It’s where we start the year and end the year. It’s where I watched my heroes race as a kid. It’s where I got my start. It’s also a great track that produces some very quick times and fast speeds. We’re hoping that if the opportunity presents itself, we might be able to knock off the national ET (elapsed time) record and gain an extra 20 points. We’re hoping to end the season on a good note. We have a great race car; it’s been an up and down year, but we’re hoping to end in on an up.
“There’s no consolation when you don’t win the NHRA Mello Yello championship, but we’re shooting for second place now. If we can do that, we can show we’re capable of putting up a fight. The Al-Anabi Team had its opportunities to contend for the Mello Yello title, but we weren’t able to capitalize on them. It’s a little disappointing, but we know what our team is capable of accomplishing, and we understand how tough the competition is in Top Fuel. We are focusing on getting our car back to where we like it so we can get a head start on 2015.
“As tight as the competition is in Top Fuel, it’s hard for any team to get a stat like sweeping the California races. We did it last year, and Balooshi (gold Al-Anabi driver Khalid alBalooshi) has done it so far this year. If one of us can win this weekend, it will be six straight Al-Anabi wins in California. When you look back at a season, there are always little things you can look back on that were really positive. The three races in California happen on very fast tracks, and if you can win all of the California races in a season, that’s a great accomplishment.”
Khalid alBalooshi, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (gold)
Third-year Top Fuel driver Khalid alBalooshi enters the 50th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals, the last of six races that comprise the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, in eighth place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel Point standings. He trails seventh-place Antron Brown by 32 points and leads ninth-place Brittany Force by 53 points with one race remaining in the season.
AlBalooshi prior to Pomona:
“Our team has gotten better this season, step by step. Last race in Las Vegas, our team made some very good runs – six of them. We made a good run in the second round on Sunday, but we raced the wrong team at the wrong time – J.R. (Todd) won the round. We are so happy with what we did in Las Vegas, and I hope we can do more of the same in Pomona this week.
“We have one race to go. I think we have a good chance to win the next race in California. We won at Pomona in February; we won at Sonoma in July, and I hope we can win the race in Pomona this week. You have to be very good to win, but I know we have one of the best cars in the show, too. We can do it.
“I am very excited to race in Pomona because it is kind of our home race. We have a lot of the fans coming to watch the race so I hope we can do something good. It is also a home race for Alan (Al-Anabi team manager Alan Johnson) so I know he wants to have a good weekend. Winning the third race in California would be very nice, but you know, Top Fuel is very hard. Everyone on our team will work his hardest to win the race this week.”
