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After dropping from third to seventh in the point standings following the first race of the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, reigning World Champion Shawn Langdon bounced back with a semi-final showing for the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Team, the three-time and defending World Championship team owned by His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani. Langdon and his teammate, Khalid alBalooshi had mixed results at the just-completed 29th annual AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals yesterday, the 20th of 24 races that make up America’s 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season and the second of six races that comprise the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs. |
Langdon was the No. 4 qualifier in Dallas; it was the 13th time in 20 races this season that Langdon qualified in the top-five positions. As the No. 4 qualifier, he defeated 2012 World Champion Antron Brown and veteran driver Steve Torrence to advance to the semi-finals against J.R. Todd. However, because Todd had a quicker second-round elapsed time, Langdon did not have lane choice, which goes to the team with the quickest time in the preceding round, and at the Texas Motorplex, the left lane is far better than the right. Despite being relegated to the inferior lane, Langdon and the World Championship Al-Anabi Team made a valiant effort and nearly got the win, but Todd reached the finish line first. After dropping from third to seventh following the season’s first playoff race, Langdon bounced back to fourth place with Sunday’s semi-final showing.
Tough weekend
“It was a tough weekend in Dallas; it’s always tough racing on a one-lane race track,” Langdon said. “To win, you have to have lane choice, and we lost it. Overall, though, it really wasn’t a bad weekend. We qualified well and made it to the semi-finals so that was good for the points situation. It moved us back into the top five so we’re within striking distance with four races left.”
AlBalooshi, whose gold Al-Anabi car had been a picture of consistency in recent races made three good qualifying runs in four attempts, but in the first round of eliminations, alBalooshi, who was in the difficult right lane, was unable to equal Steve Torrence’s effort, and alBalooshi was eliminated in the first round. After reaching the final round in Saturday’s postponed eliminations from Charlotte last weekend, alBalooshi jumped from seventh place in points all the way to fourth. With Sunday’s first-round loss, he dropped back to seventh place in the point standings with four races remaining in the season.
“We had a good day yesterday when we finished the Charlotte race and went to the final round,” alBalooshi said. “Today, we felt something like this could happen. When you race on a one-lane track and show up for the first round and don’t have lane choice, you have to hope that something happens in the other lane. To win here, you have to have lane choice, and we did not. It is not the way to race, but it is what it is. Our team will put this race behind us and get ready to race next week in St. Louis.”
The Al-Anabi Racing team will be back in action Sept. 26-28, 2014 at the third annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals near St. Louis.
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