CHANDLER: It wasn’t exactly how the teams planned it, but both Shawn Langdon and Khalid Al Balooshi have qualified for Phoenix NHRA eliminations for the Qatar Al Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, the three-time and defending NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Champions owned by H E Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani.
Langdon is eighth, and Al Balooshi is 14th at the mid-point of qualifying for the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals just outside Phoenix, the second of 24 events making up the United States’ 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. Qualifying resumed yesterday with eliminations set for today.
Al Balooshi, the current NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel points leader, and his gold Al Anabi Racing Team entered the Phoenix event fresh off their season-opening win two weeks ago in California. The team made two excellent efforts in Friday qualifying, yet neither yielded results the team hoped for. In the first qualifying run, Al Balooshi’s gold Al Anabi dragster simply produced more power than the new racing surface at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park could handle and smoked the tires. In the second round, Al Balooshi appeared to be on a nice pass when the engine experienced problems forcing him to abort the run. The third-year Top Fuel driver from Dubai is 14th at the mid-point of the qualifying process.
“The main thing for the gold Al Anabi team is to forget what happened on Friday and focus on getting everything back to normal for Saturday,” Al Balooshi said. “I think everything will be OK. We have two more qualifying runs to get a better starting position, and I know everyone on our team will do his best to have us ready to race on Sunday. Jason (crew chief Jason McCulloch) and the guys know what is wrong with the car so we hope to have our car running the way it was two weeks ago in California and have another very good weekend. And as always, I thank Sheikh Khalid for giving me this opportunity.”
2013 NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Champion Shawn Langdon had somewhat better results. In the first session, Langdon was on a brilliant pass when the engine experienced a parts malfunction right at the end of the run, but Langdon’s 3.845-second effort was good enough for third quickest. In the second run, Langdon and the silver Al Anabi team were going for the No. 1 qualifier, and, like his teammate earlier, Landgon’s silver Al Anabi car simply produced more horsepower than the brand new racing surface could handle and smoked the tires. Langdon is currently eighth on the strength of his first-round effort. Pomona, California runner-up Doug Kalitta is currently the No. 1 qualifier.
“The silver Al Anabi car made a good run in the first round,” Langdon said. “But right before the finish line, the blower belt broke making the car stop accelerating. In the second round, we were going for that No. 1 qualifier position, and just over-powered the race track. We’ll be fine, though. We still have two more qualifying sessions, and I know the Al Anabi team will be ready to race on Sunday. Thanks to Sheikh Khalid and everyone in Qatar for their support.
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