So, the story I'm getting from both sides is that the Al-Anabi team left with their five cars to make the seven-hour tow back to their Qatar Racing Club base under the impression that the Pro Mod portion of the race wasn't going to happen. 

As best I can tell, this is the point where that bane of drag racing worldwide, "racing politics", came into play. The Bahrain equivalent of a track operator, not wanting to disappoint a large group of cars and fans, got the track prepped enough to handle a low six-second Pro Mod and, apparently on orders from his boss, re-started the race and finished it.

The Qatar team say they were notified of what was happening at the track when it was way too late for them to turn around and come back to Bahrain.

The bottom line is that evidently that race and the Bahrain Championship is official and not likely to change. As a result, what we have here is a good old-fashioned drag racing controversy with the racers caught in the middle.

The Bahrain team has a chance to win the Qatar Racing Club Pro Mod Championship also, with their main driver second in points. There is a sense of urgency in the Al-Anabi pits to win.

Ah, drag racing in its essence right here in Qatar. Fast cars, great drivers -- and make no mistake, the drivers from Bahrain and Qatar are no slouches; they've got drivers like Joe Lepone, Shannon Jenkins and others teaching them -- and the superstars of U.S. tuners and car builders wringing every bit of performance out of the blown and nitrous-injected cars.

I'm stoked to see my first 5.70 Pro Mod pass, which I could see tonight.

I'm going to wear my DRO shirt, go sit in the cheap seats with the fans here, watch a little racing, and damn the politics. Can't wait to see what kind of food and beverages they sell at the concession stand.

Here are a few preliminary photos of the test session. We’ll have more photos in tomorrow’s race report.

Bikes are also on the program.	A burnout is a burnout in any language.
Sheikh Khalid Al-Thani, owner of the Al-Anabi team, drives this Willys.	This car is tuned by Rick Hickman.