At the controls of the Al-Anabi Racing Pro Extreme ’68 Chevy Camaro, Sheikh Khalid Al Thani snagged the No. 2 spot after three rounds of qualifying for Round 5 of the Arabian Drag Racing League’s 2009/2010 season.

Led by legendary Top Alcohol Funny Car driver, Frank “Ace” Manzo, Sheikh Khalid made his run for the top of the qualifying sheets in the second round of unlimited doorslammer action, posting a stout 3.754-second pass at 205.07mph. Always looking for top honors, Al Thani and the Al-Anabi Racing team will have one more chance tomorrow to earn the No. 1 position in the second quickest and fastest Pro Extreme field in the history of the Qatar Race Club.

“I’m happy with our performance,” said Sheikh Khalid, checking in from his lounge in the paddock area. “There’s nothing better than being 1 and 2 with my teammate, Von Smith, and I hope this sets us up for another Al-Anabi and Barwa Racing final round. We’ve got one more shot at it tomorrow and we know there is a little left, so we will see if we can get that number-one spot going into eliminations.”

For the last month Attitude's CompetitionPlus.com has staged its War Stories Showdown. Three rounds ofierce combination has narrowed down to the two best story-tellers in the competition. Voting will be open until Thursday, January 21 at 8:00 PM, EST.

Here are the rules –

NHRA President Tom Compton understands the concerns of the competitors and said the sanctioning body will be “putting out information soon.”
 
The NHRA is still working on how to handle the extra two lanes for competition, though some details have been ironed out.
 
“First of all, we’re rewriting the code for the timing system – (it had to be) revamped to be able to handle that,” Compton said. “We had to look at how they all got off the track, how we stage them all so they don’t take too long and run out of fuel. These cars burn a lot of fuel very quickly.

Off-season testing, no matter where it takes place, is essential to NHRA teams winning world championships, especially for Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars.

Several of the top crew chiefs from these two classes believe the balance of prominence in testing has switched from the West Coast to the East Coast in recent years.

The Al-Anabi Racing team sent its two cars – the Top Fuel dragster driven by Larry Dixon and Top Fuel Funny Car driven by Del Worsham – to Palm Beach (Fla.) International Raceway Jan. 11-15 for testing. The Al-Anabi Racing team rented the track exclusively and also invited 12 other teams to join them at the test session.

In a press conference today, the NHRA and zMax Dragway announced plans for the inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at the facility in Concord, NC, March 24 - 28, 2010. The event will be conducted four-wide instead of the traditional two-lane racing.

The four-wide action will start with qualifying on Friday and Saturday, March 26-27. Eliminations are scheduled for Sunday.

We'll have the full story shortly.

The NHRA is going four-wide.

NHRA President Tom Compton, zMAX Dragway owner Bruton Smith and 14-time Funny Car champion John Force were on hand Thursday to announce the inaugural Four-Wide Nationals to be held March 25-28. All four lanes of zMAX Dragway’s concrete will be used for the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

The announcement comes four months after the NHRA conducted a four-lane exhibition at zMAX during the Carolinas Nationals in Septmber. Racing all four lanes at one time will also bring a change to the raceday format.

Bill Doner and Pat Musi are supposed to be engaged in a competition to determine who can tell the best story. However, in the last 48 hours, their final round match in the War Stories Showdown has resembled a tennis match with the lead going back and forth.

On Monday during the annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Manager’s Conference in Memphis, Tennessee 14-time Funny Car Champion John Force and 2009 Funny CarFull Throttle Championship Runner-Up Ashley Force Hood surprised 4,500 O’Reilly store managers making an unannounced appearance and entertaining the crowd for nearly an hour.

Autocross drivers will have a new venue to show off their ability to maneuver cars through tight courses in 2010 – the Super Chevy Show. Select host tracks will feature an autocross event during the 30th anniversary season of the Super Chevy Show series.

Autocross will be just one more tantalizing feature of a series that offers drag racing, car shows, swap meets and collector cars for sale. Forward Sports Marketing's Ryan Haas has been charged with marketing and sponsorship for the series and said the idea to add autocross to the events was a collaborative effort between fans and the Super Chevy Magazine staff.