"We qualified number two and we were happy with that," said Castellana, from his office in Westbury, New York the day after the race. "We were working with the motor a little bit to try and compensate for that dry air out there. We tried something, and honestly, it didn't work. That's how you learn, though, sometimes you have to try stuff to pick up your program, and this was one of the times when it didn't go quite as planned."

Despite hunting for the perfect hot-weather tune up, Shannon "The Iceman" Jenkins was able to provide more than adequate horsepower for Castellana to blow by the Get Screened America NHRA Pro Mod Challenge's sole turbocharged entry driven by Brad Personett in the opening stanza with a 6.087 at 234.53mph to Personett's off-the-pace 6.714/177.81.

With only 13 cars in the mix, Castellana earned a bye in the second round and elected to used the solo run to test the racing surface for the sure-fire semi-final appearance, but the Al-Anabi Racing '68 Pontiac Firebird started to push the centerline at half-track, forcing the veteran driver to get out of the throttle prematurely.

In the semi-final round of action, it was Mike Castellana and expert Top Alcohol Funny Car and Pro Mod driver Jay Payne in the opposing lane. Castellana strapped a holeshot on the Valvoline-backed entry, but Payne closed the gap around the eighth-mile and was able to hold off Castellana for the win.

"Hey, that's racing," said Castellana on his semi-final round exit at the Get Screened America NHRA Pro Mod Challenge's first visit to Heartland Park Topeka. "It was our race to win, but we missed the mark. Still, though, it's definitely satisfying to be running at the front of the pack here in the Pro Mod Challenge. When you're running up against the class of guys that run this deal, all the blower guys, and to be able to qualify well and go rounds with a nitrous car - it's unbelievable, really."

Castellana continued, "Hey, I think we even pulled ahead from Roger [Burgess] and Joe [Baker] in the points, and that was our goal - to leave Topeka with the points lead - so we're happy in that respect. Burton took out Roger, who is No. 3, in the first round and that let us gain a little more ground in the points chase."

Auxier, has made a habit of making the final round as of late, but fell out of his normal routine in Topeka, also struggling in the hot weather conditions, and bowed out in the second round to finalist Jay Payne, despite putting together one of the better runs of the weekend with a 6.10 at 232mph.

Next up for the Al-Anabi Racing camp is the United Association NHRA SuperNationals held yearly at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey over the June 11-14 weekend.

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.

Courtesy of Wes Buck