Two weeks ago in Englishtown, New Jersey, Qatar Al-Anabi Racing silver driver Shawn Langdon  made a phenomenal run – the best of his career – during the Friday evening qualifying session.  That 3.742-second pass is the fourth quickest pass in NHRA history.  Couple that run with the career-best effort Dubai rookie driver Khalid alBalooshi made in Topeka, Kansas last month, and it is clear that the Qatar Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel team, the two-time, reigning NHRA Top Fuel World Champions owned by HE Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani, is getting closer winning races every week. The gold Al-Anabi Racing Team is the defending Top Fuel champion of the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, the 10th of 23 races that make up the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Season.   The event begins with two rounds of qualifying on both Friday and Saturday followed by eliminations on Sunday. Langdon enters this weekend’s Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tennessee in eighth place in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel point standings.  He trails seventh-place Brandon Bernstein by 14 points and leads ninth-place David Grubnic by12 points.   After he ran his spectacular qualifying pass during the Toyota NHRA SuperNationals in New Jersey two weeks ago, the next pair of cars recorded the first and third-quickest passes ever relegating Langdon to the No. 3 qualifier position.  In eliminations, he defeated Dom Lagana before losing to Brandon Bernstein in the second round when a mechanical failure on the Al-Anabi silver car caused the tires to smoke immediately after the run began. “I definitely still feel the Al-Anabi team is getting closer and closer to the level of excellence Sheikh Khalid expects from our race team,” Langdon said.  “The car is showing really good signs of improvement.  We qualified third in Englishtown with a great 3.74 during the Friday-night qualifying session which was the fourth-quickest run in NHRA history, and the car is clearly responding to what we want it to do.  We ran into a little mechanical problem on Sunday in the second round at Englishtown which caused us to smoke the tires so it’s just these little things that continue to plague us.” “We’re working through these gremlins now so we can get them out of the way so we won’t have these problems when the Countdown (Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs) starts.” Langdon has been a solid qualifier so far this season; he has one No. 1 qualifier and has qualified in the top five at seven of the nine races.  His average qualifying position this year is 4.56.  When it comes to leaving the starting line quickly, Langdon’s reaction times are among the best in Top Fuel. Morgan Lucas leads the class with an average reaction time of .053 seconds.  Langdon, Antron Brown and Spencer Massey all sport an average reaction time of .056 seconds. The Al-Anabi Racing winless streak has now grown to nine races; the longest ever.  The team endured four-race winless streaks twice in 2009 and twice in 2011, but until now, the team had never gone more than four races without a victory showing the remarkable consistency the Al-Anabi team has exhibited since it was created in 2009.   But with the team winning this race last year and its continued improvement this year, the Al-Anabi Team just might make a deep run into eliminations in the Tennessee mountains this weekend. “With the way the Al-Anabi car is starting to run, going to Bristol – it’s my favourite track on the tour - I really like our chances this weekend in Thunder Valley,” Langdon said. “Bristol is my favourite track on the tour because of the setting and the way it sits between the mountains. When the cars hit the gas, the echo off the mountains, the whole setting of driving into the mountains, it’s just my favourite track on the tour.” Dubai rookie driver Khalid alBalooshi enters the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in 13th place in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel point standings.  He trails 12th-place Terry McMillen by 11 points and leads 14th-place Cory McClenathan by 174 points. AlBalooshi is competing for the 2012 Automobile Club of Southern California Road tothe Future Award which recognises NHRA’s Rookie of the Year. AlBalooshi was the No. 7 qualifier two weeks ago at the Toyota NHRA SuperNationals, but in eliminations, Clay Millican upset him in the first round. The 2011 NHRA Pro Mod champion is still looking for his first round win in Top Fuel. “I hope this week is the week when the Al-Anabi team wins some rounds, and our team and crew are perfect for Sheik Khalid,” alBalooshi said. “I also hope Shawn has a good weekend, and we will all be happy. We are way behind in points, and we need to be in a much better spot.  We have the same equipment as everyone else, but we just need to find our luck.  We do a good job in qualifying, but we have not found our luck on Sunday.  One day, the Al-Anabi team will do as well in eliminations as we do in qualifying, and I hope that starts this weekend.  We still have time to get higher in points so we can make the playoffs. I know we can get there.” AlBalooshi joined the Al-Anabi Racing Team as a Pro Mod driver when it was formed in 2009 racing in both Arabian Drag Racing League and American Drag Racing League competition.  He is the 2011 NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod champion.  Prior to joining the Top Fuel portion of the Al-Anabi Racing Team in 2012, he had 158 career race wins in various classes of competition. Al-Anabi Racing operates out of multiple locations in both the United States and Qatar.  In the United States, the Brownsburg, Ind.-based operation is a two-car NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series team that is managed by Alan Johnson Racing. Sheikh Khalid’s initiative has created increased international awareness of the nation of Qatar while highlighting the nation’s international sports outreach. Alan Johnson is a 14-time NHRA champion in various capacities including crew chief, team owner and team manager.from gulf times.