Al-Anabi loses funding from Qatar Racing Club
The NHRA team has been hit with some unexpected news today.
Photo by: Ted Rossino
The Qatar Racing Club, which has been the funding partner for all Al-Anabi Racing North American operations, abruptly terminated funding for those National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) endeavors on the final day of 2014.
Team members at Alan Johnson Racing (AJR), which fielded two cars for Al-Anabi since 2009 were notified on January 5. “We are obviously surprised and disappointed about this completely unexpected turn of events,” said a shell-shocked Alan Johnson, AJR team owner.
Al-Anabi's backstory
The Al-Anabi Racing team has won Top Fuel world championships in the NHRA’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series with 2010 and 2011 with Larry Dixon and Del Worsham piloting the dark burgundy cars fielded by AJR. Shawn Langdon won the Top Fuel title in 2013. The team won 42 races in the last six seasons with Dixon, Worsham, Langdon and Khalid alBalooshi.
Alan Johnson has 11 Top Fuel championships to his credit and is the owner of Alan Johnson Performance Engineering (AJPE), manufacturer of heads and blocks for the NHRA Mello Yello professional and Lucas Oil Sportsman categories. His championships came with five different drivers: Gary Scelzi, Tony Schumacher, Dixon, Worsham and Langdon.
Johnson is a 15-time NHRA championship in many different capacities. He has won as a crew chief, team owner and team manager. “Our plans for the 2015 NHRA season were nearing completion starting with pre-season testing next week (at West Palm Beach) in Florida and the first race of the 2015 NHRA season a month from today (at Pomona, California,” Johnson said.
'Many things are uncertain'
“Many things are uncertain and our situation is obviously still evolving. We are currently exploring our options and we hope to have more news in the near future.” When the team has additional information regarding its future, further announcement will be made.
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