Dubai rookie driver Khalid Al Balooshi, near lane, approaches the finish line in the first round win of his 13-race Top Fuel career defeating seven-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher
Bandimere Speedway, Morrison, Colorado – A long learning process took a dramatic but positive turn today when Dubai rookie driver Khalid Al Balooshi saw the scoreboard win light in his lane for the first time in his brief 13-race career as a Top Fuel driver. The win was the latest piece of evidence that the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Team, the two-time, defending NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel World Championship team owned by His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani, is on its way to a return to the form that won the last two Top Fuel world championships. The Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals was the 13th of 23 races making up the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
As the No. 9 qualifier, Al Balooshi’s gold Al-Anabi Racing team faced a formidable first-round challenge: seven-time NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel World Champion Tony Schumacher, the driver with more Top Fuel wins than any other driver in NHRA history. With similar reaction times, the race was close all the way, but the rookie driver from Dubai, U.A.E. prevailed beating the seven-time champion 4.014 to 4.020 seconds.
Before the first round, Al Balooshi’s crew chief, Jason McCulloch, put a note on the driver’s helmet that said, “Al Balooshi, today is your day – You can do it.” Al Balooshi wanted to place the note in the car, but he thought it would blow away so he put it on his chest on his fire-proof undershirt.
“I saw the win light, but I didn’t believe it,” Al Balooshi said. “Before the first round, I felt good; I felt everything was ok. The problem was I felt that way before, but we still lost. Today we won the round, and it felt very good. Everybody on our team, our crew chief (Jason McCulloch) and all of the guys, have been working so hard, and I am happy we won the round. I feel much better with the first-round win, but I am sorry we lost in the second round; I wanted us to get to the semifinals, but I look forward to racing again next weekend.”
Despite the brilliant first-round win, AlBalooshi lost to points leader Spencer Massey in the second round of eliminations; Al Balooshi was ahead for most of the race before Massey took the lead at the finish line. AlBalooshi remains 13th in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel point standings. He trails 12th-place Terry McMillen by two points and leads 14th-place Hillary Will by 166 points.
In the Al-Anabi silver car, Shawn Langdon was the No. 6 qualifier in Denver. In eliminations, Langdon’s Al-Anabi dragster suffered mechanical issues during the first round, and Steve Torrence eliminated him. Langdon remains seventh in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel point standings. He trails sixth-place Doug Kalitta by 59 points and leads eighth-place Brandon Bernstein by 24 points.
“The Al-Anabi car dropped a cylinder as soon as I hit the throttle, and some other mechanical issues followed. We have a good car, and we are still getting better as a race team despite what happened today. We have four more races in the regular season, and we have set ourselves up to make the Countdown (Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs where the top-10 teams in points advance into the season-ending playoffs that determine the world championship). That’s the most important thing, but we still really want to get that first win before the Countdown starts.”
The Al-Anabi Racing team will return to racing July 27-29, 2012, at the 25th annual Sonoma NHRA Nationals in Sonoma, Calif.
