Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel driver Shawn Langdon, top, races to his semi-final win at Sunday’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals near Charlotte, North Carolina. Langdon advanced to the final round and finished second in the four-wide event.

Agencies/Concord, North Carolina


Shawn Langdon advanced to the final round of eliminations for the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Team, the three-time and defending World Championship team owned by HE Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani, at NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, the fifth of 24 races that make up America’s 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season. After a stellar qualifying effort, Dubai native Khalid al-Balooshi advanced to the semi-finals.
Langdon was the No 1 qualifier for the second time this season and the 15th time in his career. On Sunday, he advanced to his first final round of the season; it was his second-consecutive final round at this event. Langdon defeated Terry McMillen and Steve Torrence in the first round and defeated Spencer Massey and Brittany Force in the four-wide semi-finals. In the final, Langdon and Antron Brown posted identical 3.800-second passes, but Brown’s starting-line advantage got him to the finish line first. Langdon finished second in the four-car final round; the margin of victory was .015 seconds.
In the semi-finals, the steering wheel in the silver Al-Anabi car came off its shaft 800 feet into the run with the car moving at some 300 mph. Langdon steered the car by grasping its steering shaft. He alternated between steering the car by the steering shaft, grabbing the brake and deploying the parachutes. When the car came to a stop, it grazed the right retaining wall. Still, Langdon recorded the quickest pass of the round and had lane choice in the final round. The Al-Anabi crew replaced the broken bolt that held the steering-wheel assembly’s quick-release system together and repaired the car easily in time for the final round.
“It was pretty scary when the steering wheel came off,” Langdon said. “Everything happened so fast. The first instinct as a driver is, no matter what, to get that car to the finish line and still win the round. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but when the steering wheel came off, all I could think of was to grab the steering shaft and try to hold it as straight as I could.
“Fortunately, we were still able to get the round win. It grazed the wall in the shutdown area, but it didn’t really do too much damage to the car. When I got out of the car, my hands were shaking. When everything happens so quickly like that, your instincts take over, and you don’t think about it. When the adrenaline starts to wear off, you start to realize what just happened, and it’s scary to think what could have happened. Fortunately, nothing bad happened. The car is fine; I’m fine, and we were able to get the car back for the final round.
   “We made a great run in the final; we’ve really turned this Al-Anabi car around. We made seven really good runs this weekend, and the car is running strong. I think we’re back to where we were last year with a lot of promise and hope. I think we’re very close to a victory.”
With the final-round appearance, Langdon moved from seventh to fourth in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He trails third-place Steve Torrence by 17 points and leads fifth-place Tony Schumacher by 14 points.
Khalid al-Balooshi was the No 3 qualifier at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals; it was his best qualifying effort of the season. Al-Balooshi defeated Richie Crampton and Sidnei Frigo in the first round of eliminations before losing to J R Todd and Doug Kalitta in the semi-finals. Al-Balooshi remains sixth in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings. He trails fifth-place Tony Schumacher by 26 points and leads seventh-place Spencer Massey by two points.
“Our team did a good job this weekend in Charlotte,” al-Balooshi said. “We did a good job in qualifying – our best of the season so far. Today, our Al-Anabi car had some problems, but we made some good runs this weekend, and I think we are headed in the right direction. I think we are getting our hot rod back, and I am looking forward to racing in Houston.”