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The Al-Anabi Racing Team and His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani
32nd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series
Brainerd International Raceway; Brainerd, Minn.
Pre-event Notes and Quotes
Aug. 13, 2013
Shawn Langdon, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (silver):
Residence: Avon, Ind.
Hometown: Mira Loma, Calif.
Date of birth: Sept. 3, 1982
Crew chief: Brian Husen
Al-Anabi Racing Team Owner: His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani
Al-Anabi Racing Team Manager: Alan Johnson
Alan Johnson Racing Owner: Alan Johnson
2013 wins/final rounds: 4/7 (.571)
Career wins/final rounds: 5/14 (.357)
2013 No. 1 qualifiers: 4
Career No. 1 qualifiers: 10
Best points finish: 4th (2012)
Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs appearances: 4 (2009, ’10, ’11, ‘12)
First start: Pomona 1, 2009
Career-best elapsed time: 3.712 seconds (Reading, 2012)
Career-best speed: 334.15 mph (Reading, 2012)
■ Shawn Langdon enters the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in first place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He leads second-place Tony Schumacher by 147 points. Should Langdon leave Brainerd with a points lead of 154 points or more, he would clinch the top seed in the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.
■ Langdon has four wins this season, more than any other Top Fuel driver; his four wins came in seven final appearances, and he has advanced to at least the semifinals at 10 of the last 12 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 and the Sonoma, Calif, in July. He has five-career Top Fuel wins.
■ Langdon has also been a solid qualifier this season; his average qualifying position is 4.75. He has four No. 1 qualifiers taking top-qualifier honors at Charlotte, Atlanta Dragway, Topeka and Seattle, and he has qualified in the top-five positions at 11 of the 16 events this year. Langdon has 10 career No. 1 qualifiers.
■ 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 at Denver on July 21, he clinched the playoff berth.
■ The Al-Anabi Team won the 2010 Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd with driver Larry Dixon. One year ago at Brainerd, Langdon was the No. 5 qualifier, but Cory McClenathan upset him in the first round of eliminations.
■ With Langdon’s win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 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 Brainerd:
“The Al-Anabi team has made huge strides in these last few races; the car has been running really well. We are qualifying better, and the car has been running really well on race day. It was nice to go on the Western Swing and get that win in Sonoma to extend our points lead, and if all goes well this weekend in Brainerd, we hope to leave there with the top seed in the Countdown. If we can keep pace with Schumacher (second-place Tony Schumacher) and Massey (third-place Spencer Massey) this weekend, we should be in pretty good shape.
“I’ve said it before – I think the days of watching someone dominate Top Fuel are over. I don’t think you’ll ever see one team dominate like you did in the old days or even just a few years ago. So to have four wins at this point in the season, I think that’s really impressive. We’ve had eight different winners in Top Fuel, and there are three or four other cars that can win any time. So to drive the car that has the most Top Fuel wins just shows how hard the Al-Anabi team has been working and the potential we have going forward. Hopefully we can get a couple more wins along the way.
“Brainerd is always an exciting weekend because everyone has so much fun there. It’s nice to be able to get together with your peers, drivers and crew members, and be able to go to a race and relax a little bit after the long Western Swing. It’s nice to go to Brainerd and be able to get down to business on the race track but be able to enjoy the weekend a little bit, too.”
For additional information on team manager Alan Johnson or Shawn Langdon, please visit www.alanabiracing.com to view their full bios.
Khalid alBalooshi, Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Dragster (gold):
Residence: Los Angeles, Calif.
Hometown: Dubai, UAE
Date of Birth: July 27, 1979
Crew Chief: Jason McCulloch
Al-Anabi Racing Team Owner: His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani
Al-Anabi Racing Team Manager: Alan Johnson
Alan Johnson Racing Owner: Alan Johnson
2013 wins/final rounds: 1/2 (.500)
Career wins/final rounds: 2/3 (.667)
2012 No. 1 Qualifiers: 0
Career No. 1 qualifiers: 0
Career-best points finish: 11th (2012)
Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs appearances: None
First professional start: Pomona1, 2012
Career-best elapsed time: 3.735 seconds (Reading 2012)
Career-best speed: 328.46 mph (Reading, 2012)
■ Khalid alBalooshi enters the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in sixth place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He trails fifth-place Doug Kalitta by 36 points and coincidentally leads seventh-place Morgan Lucas by 36 points. AlBalooshi currently leads 11th place in the point standings by 257 points. If he leaves Brainerd leading 11th place by at least 154 points, he will clinch his spot among the 10 drivers who qualify for the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.
■ AlBalooshi won the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio in July. It was his first win of the season and the second of his Top Fuel career. Two weeks ago in Seattle, alBalooshi was the No. 4 qualifier; he defeated Brittany Force before losing to race winner Morgan Lucas in the quarterfinals.
■ AlBalooshi has one win, two final rounds and two semifinals in 16 races this season. The Dubai native has 18 round wins in the season’s first 16 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 11 of the season’s 16 races.
■ The Al-Anabi Team won the 2010 Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd with driver Larry Dixon. One year ago at Brainerd, alBalooshi was the No. 9 qualifier; he defeated Brandon Bernstein before losing to Tony Schumacher in the quarterfinals.
■ 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 Brainerd:
“Our team is excited to race this weekend in Brainerd. In Seattle, our car was very good and very fast. I think we could have won the race; Jason (crew chief Jason McCulloch) also thinks we could have won the race. A spark plug broke, and the engine lost a cylinder. These things happen, we know, but we are excited to get our car back on the track this weekend and do our best the win the race. We won a race already this year, we are in the Traxxas Shootout, and now we need to get in the Countdown. That is our next goal, and I hope we can do this weekend.”
For additional information on team manager Alan Johnson or Khalid alBalooshi, please visit www.alanabiracing.com to view their full bios.
About Al-Anabi Racing:
Al-Anabi Racing operates out of multiple locations in both the United States and Qatar. In the United States, the Brownsburg, Ind.-based operation is a two-car NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series team that is managed by Alan Johnson Racing. Sheikh Khalid’s initiative has created increased international awareness of the nation of Qatar while highlighting the nation’s international sports outreach. Alan Johnson is a 14-time NHRA champion in various capacities including crew chief, team owner and team manager. For additional information on the Al-Anabi Racing Team, team manager Alan Johnson or drivers Khalid alBalooshi or Shawn Langdon, please visit www.alanabiracing.com.