Pro Nitrous

There weren’t 50 Pro Nitrous cars in the pits at the Motorplex but they did have half that number, and those cars -- particularly those from the Al-Anabi camp -- delivered some stunning performances. Especially Doha, Qatar’s Khalid Al-Balooshi, who dominated the race winning both the Pro Nitrous Battle for the Belts and the World Finals race. The only mar in his record at the event was that he didn’t get the number-one qualifying slot, which went to Maryland racer Jim Halsey and his extremely hard working crew.

In fact, with the demanding and somewhat fan-confusing ADRL policy of the lap times recorded during the Battle for the Belts not counting as a qualifying run, the Pro Nitrous cars and crews were worked to exhaustion.

Friday’s Battle for the Belts race found three of the four drivers advancing to the second round sporting the Al-Anabi colors and with Reher-Morrison racing engine power. Only Jim Halsey, who has a Gene Fulton engine combo, advanced to the second round of the BFB without help from R-M.

In the first pair of the second round, Mike Castellana’s ’70 Camaro failed to fire in the water after doing so in the pits. The problem was traced to a defective battery that is speculated to have failed after severe tire shake in the first round. That allowed Khalid Al-Balooshi to run a 3.879 single into the finals along with fellow Al-Anabi racer Burton Auxier.