[coverattach=1]MADISON, Illinois – Three races into the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge presented by Pro Care Rx and it’s quickly becoming obvious that the nitrous-oxide contingent are a real threat on the quarter-mile in 2009, and Al-Anabi Racing’s Mike Castellana is looking to punctuate that notion with a win at this weekend’s O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals held just outside of St. Louis at Gateway International Raceway.
With a successful final round appearance already under his belt at Gateway, Castellana are confident that they can put the Al-Anabi/Western Beef ’68 Pontiac Firebird in the winner’s circle again. After a semi-final round appearance at the recently completed NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, which included an impressive 5.994-second, 236.88mph blast by the SPEEDTECH Nitrous/Reher-Morrison Racing Engines-equipped Pontiac, the Westbury, New York-native sits at the top of the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge points standings; maintaining nearly a two-round lead on Rick Stivers.
“It feels good to have the points lead coming into St. Louis,” said Castellana, who recently arrived back in the United States after traveling to the Arabian Gulf Region to compete in Pro Modified competition at the Qatar Race Club outside the nation’s capital of Doha. “We’ve won here before and we’ve made a lot of progress so far in 2009 with our nitrous program, so we’re capable of running with these blower cars – even into the five-second range.”
Weather permitting, Castellana, who turned in the first-ever five-second nitrous pass in NHRA Pro Modified history last season in Richmond, Virginia, looks to increase his points lead in Gateway, and make a big more towards his first Get Screened America NHRA Pro Mod Challenge championship with an appearance in the final round.
Qualifying for the GSA Pro Mod Challenge gets underway Friday at 2 and 4:30 PM and 1:30 PM Saturday, with eliminations beginning at 4 PM Saturday evening and wrapping up Sunday afternoon.
Log onto Drag Race Central | Presented by Summitracing.com 1-800-230-3030 or ProModChallenge.com to follow the action round-by-round.
ABOUT AL-ANABI RACING/QATAR
A result of drag racing’s continually increasing popularity abroad, Al-Anabi Racing is based out of the country of Qatar. Qatar is widely-known for working with the United States military forces to build one of the premier U.S. air bases in the Arabian Gulf Region at Al-Udeid. The Qatari philosophy was to obtain the best defense by providing the best facilities for U.S. and coalition forces. At the heart of the Al-Anabi Racing program is His Highness Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Thani, a member of the ruling family of Qatar, who set a goal of promoting the domestic and international awareness of motorsports in the nation of Qatar through multiple racing teams competing within the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
Al-Anabi Racing recently completed construction and held its first events at the new Qatar Race Club (QRC), a state of the art drag strip outside the city of Doha in the nation of Qatar.
With a successful final round appearance already under his belt at Gateway, Castellana are confident that they can put the Al-Anabi/Western Beef ’68 Pontiac Firebird in the winner’s circle again. After a semi-final round appearance at the recently completed NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, which included an impressive 5.994-second, 236.88mph blast by the SPEEDTECH Nitrous/Reher-Morrison Racing Engines-equipped Pontiac, the Westbury, New York-native sits at the top of the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge points standings; maintaining nearly a two-round lead on Rick Stivers.
“It feels good to have the points lead coming into St. Louis,” said Castellana, who recently arrived back in the United States after traveling to the Arabian Gulf Region to compete in Pro Modified competition at the Qatar Race Club outside the nation’s capital of Doha. “We’ve won here before and we’ve made a lot of progress so far in 2009 with our nitrous program, so we’re capable of running with these blower cars – even into the five-second range.”
Weather permitting, Castellana, who turned in the first-ever five-second nitrous pass in NHRA Pro Modified history last season in Richmond, Virginia, looks to increase his points lead in Gateway, and make a big more towards his first Get Screened America NHRA Pro Mod Challenge championship with an appearance in the final round.
Qualifying for the GSA Pro Mod Challenge gets underway Friday at 2 and 4:30 PM and 1:30 PM Saturday, with eliminations beginning at 4 PM Saturday evening and wrapping up Sunday afternoon.
Log onto Drag Race Central | Presented by Summitracing.com 1-800-230-3030 or ProModChallenge.com to follow the action round-by-round.
ABOUT AL-ANABI RACING/QATAR
A result of drag racing’s continually increasing popularity abroad, Al-Anabi Racing is based out of the country of Qatar. Qatar is widely-known for working with the United States military forces to build one of the premier U.S. air bases in the Arabian Gulf Region at Al-Udeid. The Qatari philosophy was to obtain the best defense by providing the best facilities for U.S. and coalition forces. At the heart of the Al-Anabi Racing program is His Highness Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Thani, a member of the ruling family of Qatar, who set a goal of promoting the domestic and international awareness of motorsports in the nation of Qatar through multiple racing teams competing within the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
Al-Anabi Racing recently completed construction and held its first events at the new Qatar Race Club (QRC), a state of the art drag strip outside the city of Doha in the nation of Qatar.
