With Hopes of a Repeat Championship fading, Team Al-Anabi Heads to Vegas
Shawn Langdon – Al- Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (silver)
Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 7 qualifier at the NHRA Nationals. In the Friday evening qualifying session, Langdon reached the finish line in 3.773 seconds at 325.77 mph.
Eliminations: Langdon lost to Richie Crampton in the first round of eliminations.
Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon dropped two spots to fourth place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He trails third-place Steve Torrence by five points and leads fifth-place Antron Brown by 22 points. He is now 148 points out of first place with two races remaining in the season.
Langdon on Reading: “It was a rough day for the Al-Anabi team; it was a tough way to go down. We had a problem with the car that we need to get sorted out; this is not the way we wanted to leave Reading. We had good weather all weekend, and the track was good. We’ve been really turning the corner with the Al-Anabi car lately, and we felt like we had a great shot. It just didn’t work out. We need to get things worked out before the last two races.”
Khalid alBalooshi – Al- Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (gold)
Qualifying: Khalid alBalooshi was the No. 12 qualifier at the NHRA Nationals. During the first round of qualifying Friday afternoon, alBalooshi recorded a 3.834-second effort at 316.82 mph.
Eliminations: AlBalooshi defeated Antron Brown before losing to Doug Kalitta in the second round of eliminations.
Unofficial Point Standings: AlBalooshi remains eighth in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He trails seventh-place Spencer Massey by 33 and leads ninth-place Brittany Force by 52 points.
AlBalooshi on Reading: “Our team made two very good runs today – our best of the season, but in the second round, Doug was even faster. All of the cars were fast this weekend – somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. You do the best you can, and it is what it is. We hope we can do better when we get to Las Vegas.”
