Team Al-Anabi Las Vegas Report

Khalid alBalooshi – Al- Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (gold)

Qualifying:   Khalid alBalooshi was the No. 9 qualifier at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals.  During the first round of qualifying Saturday afternoon, alBalooshi recorded a 3.824-second run at 313.22 mph.

Eliminations: AlBalooshi raced his teammate, Shawn Langdon, in the first round.  He made an excellent run, but lost to Langdon 3.796 to 3.810.  The margin of victory was .0225 seconds.

Unofficial Point Standings: With the first-round loss, alBalooshi drops two spots to sixth place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings.  He trails fifth-place Spencer Massey by seven points and leads his teammate, Shawn Langdon, by six points.

AlBalooshi on Las Vegas: “Our team made some very good runs this weekend. We raced Shawn in the first round.  It was our best run of the weekend, but Shawn’s team made a very good run and beat us.  I am sorry we lost the race, but I know everyone on our team is working his hardest.  I thank them for their hard work, and I thank Sheikh Khalid for giving me this opportunity.

Shawn Langdon – Al- Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (silver)

Qualifying:   Shawn Langdon was the No. 8 qualifier at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals.  During the first qualifying session Saturday, Langdon reached the finish line in 3.815 seconds at 324.05 mph.  It was the first time this season that Langdon qualified outside the top-four positions.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated his teammate, Khalid alBalooshi, in the first round of eliminations with his best pass of the weekend, a 3.796-second effort.  In the second round, he raced No. 1 qualifier Antron Brown; the two cars were side-by-side until about half track when the engine in the Al-Anabi car had problems allowing Brown to pull away from Langdon and win the round.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon dropped one spot to seventh place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings.  He trails his teammate, Khalid alBalooshi, by six points and leads eighth-place Brittany Force by 32 points.

Langdon on Las Vegas: “The Al-Anabi team struggled a little bit with the tune-up this weekend, but we still qualified alright. We’re still fighting those race-day gremlins that have plagued us this season.  We changed a lot of things around for today after qualifying; we’re continuing to work on the progress of the tune up.  We think we’re on to something.  We think we’ve found a couple issues that have been plaguing us since the beginning of the year.  We’re excited to get to Charlotte for some four-wide racing, get the tune up back and get the Al-Anabi car back into the winner’s circle.”