NHRA's Al-Anabi Racing Sets Crew Chief Pairings

When Al-Anabi Racing team manager Alan Johnson decided on his two drivers for the upcoming NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season, he realized he had one Top Fuel rookie and a driver whose past three seasons have been spent working toward gaining his first professional Wally trophy.

Johnson, recognized as one of the best personnel managers in the drag racing game, has the past two championships under his belt in the series' top category as Larry Dixon, paired with crew chief Jason McCulloch won the 2010 dragster title and Del Worsham, with rookie crew chief Brian Husen secured this year's season-long Top Fuel championship.

Pairing the new drivers and returning title-holding crew chiefs would be Johnson's next challenge.  It was certainly made easier by the need to help newly minted Top Fuel competitor Khalid alBalooshi gain his license in the class, which was accomplished in a rare December testing session; Shawn Langdon also gained some valuable seat time in his new dragster during this time.

Johnson looked over the data from alBalooshi and Langdon's test passes down the 1000-foot racetrack at West Palm Beach, FL Johnson deliberated the different experience levels and personalities of his new drivers, intending to determine his driver-crew chief pairings prior to the next test session later this month, again at Palm Beach International Raceway.  

After looking over the computer information, Johnson decided to place alBalooshi with McCulloch on the gold team while Langdon works with Husen on the silver squad.

"Jason McCulloch is our most experienced crew chief, so we decided it would be best to pair him with our rookie driver so that Jason can work with alBalooshi to make him as comfortable as possible," the team manager said.  "We also felt Shawn Langdon and Brian Husen would work well together, so it all just worked out nicely.  

"We feel this arrangement will allow both teams to get up to speed in the least amount of time," Johnson continued.  "Our December test, while primarily planned for AlBalooshi to get his license, turned out to be quite helpful in making our personnel decisions."  

According to NHRA professional requirements, alBalooshi worked through the procedures needed to gain his Top Fuel licensing as he completed runs down the 1000-foot dragstrip of short and intermediate lengths before completing two full passes.  alBalooshi's runs of 3.86 seconds and 319 mph and 3.85 seconds at 318 mph gained him a place in the Top Fuel ranks.

"We don't usually consider testing in December," Johnson said, "but given the circumstances we felt we should get a head start on the 2012 season.  We are very pleased with alBalooshi's progress in adapting to the Top Fuel car.  Now with the licensing procedure behind us we can get him back to West Palm Beach in a couple of weeks for more experience driving one of the world's fastest cars."

"From where I started my racing career," said alBalooshi, "it was a big jump to drive Top Fuel, so I am very happy to have my license.  I could not have done it without the Al-Anabi team behind me; the team did a great job instructing me from the beginning of the process," he said after his first experience with the gold Al-Anabi car.

Langdon made multiple runs last month in the low to mid 3.80-second range with a best pass of 3.799 seconds at 317.79 mph.  "There's a lot of things that were new to me and it felt really good being in the car.  It was mostly trying to get acclimated to the car and the procedures the team uses.  It took a little getting used to.  They run the car really aggressive and they run the car pretty hard," Langdon admitted.

"I got my career best 3.79 in the first couple of days and I'm excited to get back to West Palm this month for pre-season testing, so we can keep bettering that career best and get ready for Pomona (the traditional start of the season each February)."

Johnson decided to have Langdon run his car, as well as alBalooshi because, "Once the race track has been prepped, testing two cars is actually better than just one.  We were able to let Shawn get acquainted with his car and our team, as well as test a few new parts we did not have the chance to try during the 2011 season," the 14-time NHRA National championship-winning team manager admitted.  "Last month's test was a vital step for our new-look Al-Anabi Racing team."

Al-Anabi Racing, owned by His Highness Sheikh Khalid Al Thani, operates out of multiple locations in both the United States and Qatar.  In the USA, the team has a nearly new state of the art Brownsburg, IN operation for its two-car NHRA Top Fuel squad; the Sheikh's goal in his multiple teams is to promote the domestic and international awareness of motorsports in the nation of Qatar.