It has been just under a month since Khalid alBalooshi was named the new driver of the Al-Anabi Racing gold team Top Fuel dragster.

And, the 31-year-old alBalooshi is gradually settling into his new job. AlBooshi is replacing Del Worsham who retired from driving after capturing the 2011 NHRA Top Fuel world championship. Worsham is now the crew chief for the nitro Funny Car driven by Alexis DeJoria at Kalitta Motorsports.

“To get to drive one of the Al-Anabi Top Fuel cars is a great opportunity,” alBooshi said Tuesday in a phone interview with Competition Plus. “KH (Highness Sheik Khalid Al Thani, Al-Anabi’s team owner) at one time spoke to me about it (driving a Top Fuel dragster), but I didn’t think that one day I would make the jump to drive a Top Fuel dragster. It’s not easy to drive a Top Fuel dragster after driving a Pro Mod car that goes 6.17 seconds. It is a big, big jump. Three months ago, KH told me I think you are ready (to drive a Top Fuel dragster), you can do it alBalooshi. I hope I can do it. I appreciate Alan Johnson (Alan Johnson Racing manages the two-car Top Fuel operation of the Al-Anabi Racing team) and Chad Head (Al-Anabi’s director of racing operations) for helping me with what I’m doing and getting my (Top Fuel) license. I’m not nervous. So far everything is good.”

Right after alBooshi was named the driver of Al-Anabi Racing’s gold team dragster, he and his new teammate Shawn Langdon made some laps at a closed test session at Palm Beach (Fla.) International Raceway. AlBalooshi earned his Top Fuel license at the test, and made one 1,000-foot pass at 3.86 seconds at 319 mph.

It has been just under a month since Khalid alBalooshi was named the new driver of the Al-Anabi Racing gold team Top Fuel dragster.

And, the 31-year-old alBalooshi is gradually settling into his new job. AlBooshi is replacing Del Worsham who retired from driving after capturing the 2011 NHRA Top Fuel world championship. Worsham is now the crew chief for the nitro Funny Car driven by Alexis DeJoria at Kalitta Motorsports.

“To get to drive one of the Al-Anabi Top Fuel cars is a great opportunity,” alBooshi said Tuesday in a phone interview with Competition Plus. “KH (Highness Sheik Khalid Al Thani, Al-Anabi’s team owner) at one time spoke to me about it (driving a Top Fuel dragster), but I didn’t think that one day I would make the jump to drive a Top Fuel dragster. It’s not easy to drive a Top Fuel dragster after driving a Pro Mod car that goes 6.17 seconds. It is a big, big jump. Three months ago, KH told me I think you are ready (to drive a Top Fuel dragster), you can do it alBalooshi. I hope I can do it. I appreciate Alan Johnson (Alan Johnson Racing manages the two-car Top Fuel operation of the Al-Anabi Racing team) and Chad Head (Al-Anabi’s director of racing operations) for helping me with what I’m doing and getting my (Top Fuel) license. I’m not nervous. So far everything is good.”

Right after alBooshi was named the driver of Al-Anabi Racing’s gold team dragster, he and his new teammate Shawn Langdon made some laps at a closed test session at Palm Beach (Fla.) International Raceway. AlBalooshi earned his Top Fuel license at the test, and recorded a best 1,000-foot pass of 3.86 seconds at 319 mph.

“The first day I learned a little bit how the car starts, then I made 60-foot runs, and I just went step-by-step,” alBooshi said. “Alan (Johnson) and the crew took care of everything from A to Z. Everything was perfect. It’s cool you know to jump to this big professional deal (in Top Fuel). Everything is so much different. My routine is so much different. Now, I’m driving for a big professional (Top Fuel) team, but everything is good.”

Head was impressed with alBalooshi at last month’s PBIR test.

“I think Balooshi did a great job the first time out,” Head said. “The goal was just to get him comfortable and get him working with (crew chief) Jason McCulloch and Ronnie Thompson and the rest of the crew. I think the guys did an outstanding job of being patient and getting Balooshi comfortable with the Top Fuel car. I think Balooshi did an outstanding job as far as trying to get into a routine and staging and keeping the thing (the dragster) straight. He also was able to get out of the throttle when he needed to get out of the throttle. He never drove over his head. He was very, very aware of what was going on with the race car, and that impressed everybody on the team. He would not continue with us if we didn’t feel that he had the potential to be a champion someday. Everybody on the Al-Anabi team, we all feel that he has a lot of potential to step up and really do

some good.”

AlBalooshi returns to the Al-Anabi Top Fuel driver’s seat this coming Monday through Thursday at the Palm Beach (Fla.) International Raceway PRO Winter Warm-up.

“I’m excited to get back out there,” alBalooshi said.

AlBalooshi said he and Sheik Khalid have been friends for awhile.

“I have known (Sheik) Khalid for about seven or eight years,” alBalooshi said. “I met him in Qatar and I jumped to get the opportunity to drive for the Sheik, and an Al-Anabi car. What you see about Al-Anabi (Racing), Sheik has put everything together. I appreciate Sheik Khalid for everything he has done for me and all of the sport.”

AlBalooshi won NHRA’s Get Screened America Pro Mod championship last season, along with the 2011 Arabian Drag Racing League Pro Mod Championship in Qatar while driving for Al-Anabi Racing. AlBalooshi also finished second in the American Drag Racing League (ADRL) Pro Mod standings last year.

“No, No, I’m not going to drive the Pro Mod car this year,” alBalooshi said. “I’m just going to drive the Top Fuel dragster. That helped me racing in the NHRA. I was able to see what the big (Al-Anabi) Top Fuel teams are doing. Like what they are doing at the races and between rounds and what the driver is doing. I have an idea of what the Al-Anabi Top Fuel teams are doing at the races.”

Most recently, alBalooshi was competing at the Moreeb Hill Climb in Liwa, which is in the western region of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

“I was No. 1 in the V-6 class and I was runner-up in the V-8 class,” alBalooshi said. “I have raced in that race (the Moreeb Hill Climb) for a long time, maybe 10 years. I have won a lot of races at that event.”

AlBalooshi is a native of Dubai, UAE and he began racing professionally in October of 2001. He has won 158 races in the Pro Mod, Outlaw, and Super Street Classes combined. AlBalooshi lives in Dubai, but he plans on relocating to Los Angeles during the NHRA season.

“People in Dubai know what I’m doing in the United States and they’re always looking to see what I’m doing,” said alBalooshi, who has a motorsports speed shop in Dubai.

 

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