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Two race cars made four solid Las Vegas qualifying runs on Friday for the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, the three-time and defending NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Championship team owned by HE Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani. Reigning World Champion Shawn Langdon is fifth, and Khalid alBalooshi is 10th after the first day of qualifying for the 14th annual Toyota NHRA Nationals, the 23rd of 24 races making up the United States’ NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and the fifth of six races that comprise the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs. |
Langdon opened the day with a brilliant 3.837-second effort at nearly 321 mph and was third after the opening qualifying session; that run placed him late in the evening session’s order. The silver Al-Anabi car was on a phenomenal run in the second session when the blower belt broke 200 feet from the finish line essentially ending the run early.
The car was going so fast when the belt broke that it still took only 3.787 seconds to reach the finish line. Because the blower belt broke, Langdon’s speed was only 301 mph, and Langdon is fifth after the Friday qualifying sessions.
“The Al-Anabi guys worked very hard in the last couple of weeks, and the results began to show on Friday,” Langdon said. “The Al-Anabi car made two excellent runs, and if the blower belt hadn’t broken late in the last run, the car would have run even quicker. We are definitely optimistic now that we are on the way to having our race car where we need it.”
AlBalooshi also opened the Toyota Nationals with a dazzling run; his 3.848-second pass at nearly 314 mph placed him fourth after the first session, and it also placed him late in the evening qualifying session.
Before the Al-Anabi cars ran in the second round, they had dropped from third and fourth where they were after the first session all the way down to 11th and 12th because eight cars had improved on their afternoon runs. While alBalooshi’s 3.824-second pass at 304.12 mph was a slight improvement over his opening effort, it was only good enough for 10th quickest after the opening day of qualifying. Still, the two-car Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team made four solid runs on Friday.
“Our Al-Anabi team made two very good runs on Friday,” alBalooshi said. “Everybody on our team did his best and worked his hardest. That is why we made two good runs. The weather will be cooler over the weekend. I think we will improve our position on Saturday and be in a good position for the race on Sunday. I thank everyone on our team for his hard work.”