Al-Anabi Seattle Preview
Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (silver):
Shawn Langdon enters the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals in first place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He leads second-place Spencer Massey by 102 points with three races remaining in the regular season.
Langdon won the 26th annual Sonoma NHRA Nationals in Sonoma, Calif., on Sunday. It was his fourth win of the season and the fifth of his career. Langdon was the No. 6 qualifier; he defeated Bob Vandergriff, Doug Kalitta, Antron Brown and former teammate Morgan Lucas on his way to the winner’s circle.
Langdon enters the Seattle event atop Mike Dunn’s ESPN Top Fuel Power Rankings. Second through five are Doug Kalitta, Spencer Massey, Morgan Lucas and Antron Brown.
For the first time this season, Al-Anabi Racing team owner His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani attended the Sonoma NHRA Nationals. He spent the entire weekend at the race track and watched every run the team made over the three days.
Langdon was the first Top Fuel driver to clinch his spot in the 2013 Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs. When he defeated Anton Brown in the first round two weeks ago in Denver, he clinched the playoff berth.
Langdon has advanced to at least the semifinals at nine of the last 11 races. He has advanced to the final round of eliminations seven times and has four wins in his seven final-round appearances. He visited the winner’s circle at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif. in February, Topeka, Kan. in May, Englishtown, N.J. in June and the Sonoma, Calif., last weekend. He has five-career Top Fuel wins.
Langdon has been a solid qualifier this season; his average qualifying position is 4.50. He has three No. 1 qualifiers taking top-qualifier honors at Charlotte, Atlanta Dragway and Topeka, and he has qualified in the top-five positions at 10 of the 15 events this year. Langdon has nine career No. 1 qualifiers.
The Al-Anabi Team won the Seattle race in 2011 with driver Del Worsham. Last year, Langdon was the runner-up. He was the No. 4 qualifier; he defeated Terry McMillen, Antron Brown and David Grubnic before losing to Steve Torrence in the final round of eliminations.
With Langdon’s win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif. in February, he qualified for the Traxxas Shootout. The second-year special event for eight Top Fuel teams and eight Funny Car teams is set for Indianapolis during the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend. Last year, Langdon did not qualify for the event because he did not win a race prior to it nor did he advance into the race from the drawing for non-winners.
Langdon recorded the fastest speed to 1,000 feet in NHRA history last fall in Reading, Pa. when he reached 334.15 mph. In addition, during the same Reading race weekend, his 3.712-second elapsed time was the national elapsed-time record until Antron Brown made a quicker pass in the same weekend. It still stands as the second-quickest 1,000-foot run in NHRA history.
The Al-Anabi Racing Team won a total of two races in 2012 with Langdon and his teammate Khalid alBalooshi each reaching the winner’s circle once. The two-race win total was the lowest season total since the team was founded in 2009. That season, the team won eight times with five in Top Fuel and three in Funny Car; in 2010, Al-Anabi Racing visited the Top Fuel winner’s circle 12 times followed by 10 wins in 2011 when the team fielded two Top Fuel dragsters for the first time. Langdon claimed last season’s first Al-Anabi race win at the season’s 18th race.
Langdon qualified for the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs in each of his four previous seasons driving a Top Fuel car. He finished fourth in the final NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings last season after finishing ninth in 2011, fifth in 2010, and ninth in 2009, his rookie season.
Langdon joined the Al-Anabi Racing team prior to the 2012 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. He won the 2007 and ’08 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Super Comp championships and the 1997 NHRA Junior Dragster championship in the 14-under division making him a three-time NHRA national series champion.
Langdon prior to Seattle:
“The Al-Anabi team had a really good weekend in Sonoma – it’s great to win four races in a season when I went almost four years without winning one. The Al-Anabi car has been making a lot of very good runs, and Sunday at Sonoma was no different. We ran the quickest run of the weekend in the first round, and it’s nice to see the Al-Anabi car responding the way Alan and the crew chiefs want it to respond.
“It was great to win the race and extend our points lead. After we clinched our spot in the Countdown, our goal became getting that No. 1 seed for the Countdown. We are happy to lead by 102 points, but we know that lead can disappear as fast we got it so we have to keep trying our hardest. There’s no such thing as a comfortable lead because when you lead the points, you have a target on your back, and everyone is shooting for you. Our job is to keep working as hard as we can, and hopefully, we can continue to make good runs and earn more points.
“Anytime you can win a race, it’s really big because there are probably 12 or 13 Top Fuel cars that can really go to any race and win. The drivers are trying to step and do their jobs – you see it in the reaction-time averages. Over the last five years, they have drastically come down so the drivers are doing their part. Not only are the crew chiefs trying to find that extra couple hundredths of a second, but the drivers are also trying to find that extra couple of hundredths, and it’s made for some really good races with small margins of victory. Sometimes you win by it, sometimes you lose by it.
“The Seattle race track is very similar to the track in Sonoma. So the runs we made last weekend – in the mid-3.70s – we can take a lot of that information and use it in Seattle because it’s a good-air track where you make a lot of power. It gets a little tricky when the sun gets on the track just like Sonoma. But I think we can have a good race there this weekend.”
Khalid alBalooshi, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (gold):
Khalid alBalooshi enters the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals in sixth place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He trails fifth-place Antron Brown by 39 points and leads seventh-place Clay Millican by 96 points.
AlBalooshi won the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio earlier this month. It was his first win of the season and the second of his Top Fuel career. Last weekend in Sonoma, alBalooshi was the No. 4 qualifier; he defeated Brandon Bernstein before losing by .0282 seconds to Spencer Massey in the quarterfinals.
AlBalooshi has one win, two final rounds and two semifinals in 15 races this season. The Dubai native has 17 round wins in the season’s first 15 races. Last year, alBalooshi won a total of 14 rounds of racing over the entire season. His sophomore season is going much better than his rookie season in 2012.
AlBalooshi has been a solid qualifier this season; he qualified second, his career best, at both Houston Raceway Park and Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J. AlBalooshi has qualified in the top six at 10 of the season’s 15 races.
With alBalooshi’s win in the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, he qualified for the Traxxas Shootout. The second-year special event for eight Top Fuel teams and eight Funny Car teams is set for Indianapolis during the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend. Last year, alBalooshi did not qualify for the event because he did not win a race prior to it nor did he advance into the race from the drawing for non-winners.
AlBalooshi captured the first Top Fuel win of his career during his rookie season last year. On a cold, rainy weekend during which national performance records were being set with impressive regularity, alBalooshi defeated Spencer Massey, Ike Maier, his teammate Shawn Langdon and eventual 2012 Top Fuel champion Anton Brown in the final round of the Auto Parts Nationals in Reading, Pa.
AlBalooshi’s rookie year was a story of two very different half seasons. In the first half of the season, alBalooshi was defeated in the first round of eliminations at all 12 races. However, after getting his first Top Fuel round win at Denver in July, alBalooshi advanced to at least the second round of eliminations at10 of the last 11 races of the season including each of the last nine. He had a win and a semifinal in the last three races, and before he lost in the Las Vegas semifinals at the second-to-last race of the year, he had won six consecutive rounds of racing.
AlBalooshi chose the No. 99 for the Al-Anabi Racing gold dragster as a tribute to Al-Anabi Racing team owner His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani because nine is Sheikh Khalid’s favorite number.
AlBalooshi, the first Middle Eastern driver to compete in a major United States Motorsports series, joined the Al-Anabi Racing Team as a Pro Mod driver when it was formed in 2009 racing in both Arabian Drag Racing League and American Drag Racing League competition. He is the 2011 NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod champion. Prior to joining the Top Fuel portion of the Al-Anabi Racing Team in 2012, he had 158 career race wins in various classes of competition.
AlBalooshi prior to Seattle:
“Our Al-Anabi team did a good job last weekend in California. Our car was one of the best in the show, but in the second round against Spencer (Massey) I did not have a good light. Our car was quicker, but he won the round. I am very happy that Shawn won the race – I was very happy for him and the silver team. This week in Seattle, I know my crew and my crew chief will be ready for a good week. I have to do a better job with the lights. I will do my best to get better and better and better every time I make a run in the car. I am looking forward to racing this week.”
