Somebody said, " It's Nationalism; drag racing is a uniquely American sport, and I don't see anything wrong with at least hoping it stays that way."
I don't either, but look at it this way:
This Sheikh is paying the good ol' US of A the biggest compliment possible when he hires Americans to tune and drive his race cars. There are undoubtedly, thousands of intelligent, eager, young men in Qatar who would give their right arm to drive one of these cars for the Sheikh, and let's face it; the base elements of driving a Fueler or Fuel F/C can be tought by Frank Hawley in a matter of weeks....
But instead, he hires two old men, Frank Manzo and Alan Johnson (admittedly, you can't learn how to put a winning tune on a Fuel motor in a matter of weeks, months, or years) who are AMERICANS... and, the best at what they do... to help him get a foothold in NHRA racing.
The cars the Al-Anabi teams drive are, as far as I know, designed and built here in America, as are the engines, clutches, and drivetrains. Not positive, but I'd bet they are.
When cars built in Qatar start showing up, driven by Qatar-born and raised Middle Easterners, and start going rounds and winning some national events here, THEN I'll start worring about "drag racing is a uniquely American sport, and I don't see anything wrong with at least hoping it stays that way."
I'm not holding my breath....
Bill
