When you've been drag racing for as long as Mike Castellana, especially on a professional level,
it's hard to deny the fact that the races and race tracks eventually start to run together. Just in
2009 alone Castellana has participated in over a dozen drag races in three different sanctioning
bodies on two continents.
Make no mistake about it; there is at least one event on Castellana's schedule each year that
stands out amongst the rest - the NHRA SuperNationals at Englishtown, New Jersey's Old Bridge
Township Raceway Park.
"Each year we look forward to racing in Englishtown," said Castellana, touching base via cell phone
from his office in Westbury, New York. "The Get Screened America NHRA Pro Mod Challenge has had an
extremely exciting season so far, and we're hoping to extend our lead in the points at the
SuperNationals with a win for Al-Anabi Racing."
The lifelong New Yorker continued, "We're been campaigning two Al-Anabi Racing cars in the NHRA Pro
Mod Challenge and we've been able to put each of them in the winner's circle this year, but this
weekend we're going to bring a third car into the mix, driven by Rickie Smith. With the caliber of
racers participating in this series you can never rest on your laurels, but I'm confident that
between the three of us we've got as good a shot as anybody to find the winner's circle this
weekend."
Led by the world's greatest nitrous-oxide tuning mind, Shannon "The Iceman" Jenkins, Castellana
will try to overcome the seasonably warm weather in E-Town and take home a second Get Screened
America Pro Mod Challenge win in front of his hometown crowd. Already well known for it's rich
history in the sport of drag racing, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park would make the perfect
location for the season's first all Al-Anabi Racing final round.
"Roger Burgess, Get Screened America and the NHRA have provided us one of the ultimate proving
grounds in the world of Pro Modified racing," said Castellana. "There's nothing quite like racing
the quarter-mile; it's an opportunity for us to really show what we're made of, especially for
SPEEDTECH Nitrous and Reher-Morrison Racing Engines. I'm looking forward to racing close to home
this weekend, in front of a lot of my family and friends; with a little luck we can put on a good
show and take it home."
Log onto http://www.dragracecentral.com 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.
