Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Team owner HE Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani and Team Manager Alan Johnson share a laugh during last weekend’s Sonoma NHRA Nationals in California.  PICTURE: Gary Nastase

Agencies/Kent, Washington

This weekend’s 26th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals, the 16th of 24 races making up the United States’ NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, is the final race of the grueling NHRA “Western Swing,” races in Denver, Colorado, Sonoma, California and Seattle Washington on three consecutive weekends.   Qualifying is set for Friday and Saturday with eliminations scheduled for Sunday.

Silver Al-Anabi driver Shawn Langdon won last week’s Sonoma NHRA Nationals in California.  With the win, he now leads second-place Spencer Massey by 102 points. Since clinching his playoff position two weeks ago in Denver, Langdon’s goal has been simple:  finish the regular season as the points leader to take the No. 1 seed into the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs and enjoy the playoff points bonus that comes with the No. 1 seed.  That, however, is easier said than done. 

“It was great to win the race and extend our points lead,” Langdon said.  “After we clinched our spot in the Countdown, our goal became getting that No. 1 seed. We are happy to lead by 102 points, but we know that lead can disappear as fast we got it so we have to keep trying our hardest.  There’s no such thing as a comfortable lead because when you lead the points, you have a target on your back, and everyone is shooting for you.”

“ Our job is to keep working as hard as we can, and hopefully, we can continue to make good runs and earn more points.  We all appreciate what Sheikh Khalid does for our team, and I hope we can continue doing well for him.”

Gold Al-Anabi driver Khalid alBalooshi is in excellent shape to clinch his playoff spot soon.  One year ago, alBalooshi was 13th in points with three races remaining in the regular season and had virtually no chance of making the playoffs.  This year, he has won a race and is a strong sixth place in the point standings; he is 177 points ahead of the 10th-place driver.  His playoff position is not yet guaranteed, but his chances appear very, very good.  Driver and team need to stay completely focused on improving performance in order to clinch the playoff berth.

“Our team is in a much better position now than we were last year,” alBalooshi said.  “We are working as hard as we can.  Everybody on our crew is working his hardest, and our crew chief is making very good calls.  Our Al-Anabi car is very fast, and we have had some good luck this year.  We all know that we must keep trying our hardest to keep getting better and better and better.  We won a race, we are in the Traxxas Shootout, but we want to be in the playoffs.  I must be faster off the starting line, and I will do my best to work on that every time I get in the car.  I thank Sheikh Khalid for giving me this opportunity.”