The Al-Anabi Racing Team and ready for the 54th annual Circle K Winternationals
Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (silver):
Shawn Langdon enters the 2014 drag racing season as the reigning NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Champion for the first time 
in his career. Last year’s title was the third in the last four seasons for the Al-Anabi Racing Team. In addition, it was Langdon’s fourth NHRA National Championship. He won the 1997 NHRA Junior Dragster National Championship in the under 14 division and the NHRA Lucas Oil Super Comp championship in 2007 and ’08. He is the first alumnus of the NHRA Junior Dragster program to win a Mello Yello Championship.
When Langdon won the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Championship last year, he became the fifth driver to win a Top Fuel title with Alan Johnson serving as the crew chief, team owner or team manager. The other Top Fuel champions that worked with Johnson are: Gary Scelzi, Tony Schumacher, Larry Dixon and Del Worsham.
When Langdon won the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Championship last year, it was the 11th Top Fuel title for legendary tuner and Al-Anabi Racing team manager Alan Johnson. He won his previous 10 Top Fuel championships serving as crew chief, team owner and team manager. Including his NHRA National Championships in alcohol dragster, Johnson now has 15 NHRA National Championships.
After entering as the top seed but stumbling early in the 2013 Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, Langdon stormed to the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Championship with a performance that saw him win two of the season’s last three races to win the World Championship by 164 points over second-place Antron Brown. His 2013 Countdown summary is below:
Langdon had seven wins in 11 final-round appearances last season, and he advanced to at least the semifinals at 16 of the season’s last 20 races. 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, Sonoma, Calif., in July, Indianapolis in September, Reading, Pa., in October and the season-ending NHRA Finals in November. He has eight-career Top Fuel wins.
Langdon swept the Pomona races last year winning both the NHRA Winternationals in February and the NHRA Finals in November. He is the first Top Fuel driver to sweep the season’s races at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona since 2004 when Tony Schumacher did it. Not-so-coincidentally, Schumacher’s crew chief at the time was Al-Anabi Racing team manager Alan Johnson. Prior to 2004, the last time it happened was 2000 with Gary Scelzi driving the Team Winston Top Fuel dragster, and once again, Johnson was making the tuning decisions. The other drivers to sweep the season races in Top Fuel at Pomona are Mike Dunn (1999), Gary Ormsby, Sr. (1989) and Darrell Gwynn (1986).
Langdon prior to Pomona:
“We’re going to approach 2014 the same way that we have the last two years. We’re just very excited to get back out there and get running again. We feel very confident; the whole Al-Anabi team has done a lot of homework in the off-season. We went testing last month and had a successful test session. I don’t think there are going to be too many things that we want to change. We just kind of want to stay in the same attack mode as we have in the last two years. So we’re just very excited to get back out there and get racing at Pomona.
“To win that Mello Yello Top Fuel Championship was a dream of mine since I was a kid. I’ll definitely wear that number one proudly on the side of our car. I don’t think it’s going to be too different. I think last year we had the hopes of contending for a world championship. We knew we had a great car and we still feel that way. So we’re just going to basically keep doing what we’re doing. We’re obviously proud of what this Al-Anabi Team accomplished last year, but we don’t want to sit on it for too long. We need to keep progressing. All these other teams are playing pretty good catch up. They’re making good runs as well. So we can’t sit around and pat ourselves on the back too much or these guys are going to pass us up.
“So we have to keep working hard, keep at it, and keep trying to keep this team at the top – we have to keep progressing. We’re excited to get into Pomona. We definitely want to get started as the defending World Champions and also the event champion. Obviously, there are a lot of great memories out at Pomona – it’s always a fun race. It’s the first race of the year and a track where I grew up so we’re definitely counting down the minutes to get there.”
Khalid alBalooshi, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (gold):
Khalid alBalooshi enters the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season on the strength of his 8th-place finish in the final point standings last year. He won a race and recorded two runner-up finishes along the way. Now a two-time Top Fuel winner, he is far more experienced in Top Fuel than he was when he began making the move from Pro Mod to Top Fuel two years ago. The Dubai native had 25 round wins last season. In his 2012 rookie season, alBalooshi won a total of 14 rounds of racing showing an improvement of nearly 79% last season.
– AlBalooshi had a busy off season. Following the NHRA Finals last November, alBalooshi returned home to Dubai, UAE. After some brief down time with his family, he got right back behind the wheel of a car. He ran the Qatar Mile in Doha, Qatar, a one-mile race from a standing start to see who can reach the highest speed. He ran two Arabian Drag Racing League events as well as several Sand Racing drag races. In addition, he participated in the Doha Goals Forum in Doha, Qatar as an ambassador to the 400 students in attendance. For additional information, please visit www.dohagoals.com.
– The Al-Anabi Racing Team participated in pre-season testing in West Palm Beach, Fla., last month, and it was an excellent test session for alBalooshi and the gold Al-Anabi team. After making some changes in last year’s tune-up, gold Al-Anabi crew chief Jason McCulloch had things buttoned up for testing, and alBalooshi’s was among the quickest cars in testing.
– AlBalooshi’s gold Al-Anabi dragster has a new look for 2014. New this year, the car has gold lettering on a black background making the car radically different from that of teammate Shawn Langdon. For those who had problems telling the difference between the Al-Anabi cars, it will be a welcome change.
AlBalooshi prior to Pomona:
“The 2013 season was very good for the Al-Anabi team and for me. We won another race and finished eighth in the season. It was good, but it was just, for us, the next step. I was very happy for Shawn and the silver team to win the (2013 NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World) championship. It was very good for our team, and it was good for Qatar and Sheikh Khalid.
“Last year at Pomona (in November), Jason told me he found some problems with our car that have been fixed now. Jason told me, ‘Balooshi trust me, I found the problems.’ And when I got to testing in Florida (last month), I had a way better car. It was just like he said it would be, and I can’t wait to drive the car in the races this year.
“Our car looks different this year. When we go to the starting line, everyone will know it is the gold Al-Anabi team – it will be easy now to know if it is Shawn’s car or my car. I am excited about the new season; we have a great hot rod, and I hope our team will win a lot of races this year.”
