Al-Anabi Ready to Start the Hunt for another Championship
Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (silver):
Reigning NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel world champion Shawn Langdon enters the Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals, the first of six races that comprise the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, in third place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel Point standings. After the points reset prior to the Countdown, he trails second-place Antron Brown by 10 points and leads fourth-place Tony Schumacher by 10 points.
The Al-Anabi Racing Team has three wins at zMAX Dragway. The team won the fall race in 2010 with driver Larry Dixon, the Four-Wide Nationals in 2011 with driver Del Worsham and in 2012 with Langdon when he won his first-career Top Fuel race in the fall. One year ago at this race, Langdon was the No. 3 qualifier, but Bob Vandergriff upset him in the first round of eliminations.
Langdon prior to Charlotte:
“I feel good starting the Countdown; we’re ready to get started. I always like going back to Charlotte because it’s where I got my first victory, and I always like racing at Bruton Smith facilities. It’s an exciting time of year; to be able to start the Countdown third in points is a tribute to all of the people on this Al-Anabi team that have worked so hard all season.
“Starting the Countdown, the mindset is to go rounds. We have to take it one round at a time; everybody’s got to do his job and not make any mistakes. Last year, we started the Countdown as the top seed and were able to recover from a first-round loss at Charlotte, but starting as the third seed, losing in the first round at Charlotte isn’t an option. We have to get going, win rounds, hit them hard early and put pressure on the other teams. We want to set the standard for the competition. We have to keep doing what we’re doing, try to get to the next level and make the Al-Anabi car as consistent as possible. Everyone has to do a perfect job in their area.
“I experienced a lot of things for the first time last year. I had never been first in points or been in championship contention. There were a lot of things I had never experienced before like the amount of pressure being in contention for the Mello Yello championship brings with it. You have to perform at a very high level every time the car goes down the race track and be able to deal with the media attention without being distracted. After going through all of that last year, I know a little more about what to expect in the Countdown this year. Just knowing what to expect will allow me to focus a little bit more on my driving rather than the other things going on.
“Our confidence is still high. In my opinion, the Al-Anabi team is the best out there. These guys have a great team and a great car year-after-year. It’s up to the driver to perform at the same level of excellence as the team. Even though the results haven’t shown it this year, we know that we have a car that can run with everyone else and that we’ll be in contention for the Mello Yello championship again this year.”
For additional information on team manager Alan Johnson or Shawn Langdon, please visit www.alanabiracing.com to view their full bios.
Khalid alBalooshi, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (gold):
AlBalooshi prior to Charlotte:
“In the middle of the year, we were struggling. We were trying to do things to make our car faster, but sometimes the car ran well; sometimes it smoked the tires. Now we come back with a normal routine, and I think we can have something good in the last six races. Our car is consistent now. I think this is the best our car has been since I started to drive Top Fuel (in 2012). All of the years, we have been trying a lot of different stuff. Finally, we know now what our car exactly likes and what it doesn’t like. I think we are we in good shape now. Jason (crew chief Jason McCulloch) can make changes on the car and know what it likes.
“Can we win the NHRA Championship? Why not? We have a car to run with all the people. We have an almost top-five car in the show. If you look at the average for the cars in the show, our car is there with the top-five cars, so why not?”
