AWESOME Motorsports Goes Global, Forms Alliance with Al Anabi Racing

(6-10-2008) RIDGEWOOD, New York – AWESOME Motorsports recently announced an alliance with Al Anabi Racing, one of the leading drag racing teams in the nation of Qatar, an Arab emirate in Southwest Asia to form AWESOME Al Anabi. The alliance is aimed at accelerating the performance of the nitrous-assisted AWESOME Al Anabi Pro Mod racing team of Mike Castellana and Shannon “Iceman” Jenkins in competition in the U.S. and abroad.

This new partnership – the product of a relationship that started in the fall of 2007 through the purchase of two of the quickest and fastest nitrous Pro Modified cars in history by Al Anabi Racing, Castellana and Jenkins’ Haas-built 2007 Ford Mustang and 2007 Pontiac GTO – has grown from a mere business transaction to an intricate racing collaboration after both of the veteran racers were employed to drive and tune the rapidly expanding stable of Al Anabi race cars.

“Part of our agreement with Al Anabi after the sale of the Mustang and GTO were to help them get the cars running up to par in the conditions overseas,” stated Castellana. “When we arrived in Dubai, we actually ended up driving the cars in competition and thus sparked the idea of combining forces with Al Anabi. Since then, we’ve been working diligently on a program to build a championship-caliber racing team here in the United States and in Qatar, just now having been able to go public.”

AWESOME Al Anabi will initiate joint activities through their existing race teams, consisting of the new Haas-built Firebird, the world’s fastest nitrous door slammer, and David Janes-built Camaro that carried Jenkins’ to his career quickest pass, which will headline in the United States while the GTO and Mustang will be campaigned in Dubai, Qatar and Bahrain racing circuits. Castellana and Jenkins will handle the driving duties in both, but will work to train two additional drivers who will also compete overseas. The purchase of a new ’41 Willys Pro Mod complete with a Reher-Morrison/Speedtech 780ci engine and Bruno/Lenco combination will be used as a training tool for the new drivers.

“Ultimately, we couldn’t be happier with this program,” said Castellana. “To team up with a group of people that are as passionate about racing as we are is exciting in itself, let alone the resources this provides our race team to continue the research and development necessary to make the nitrous-injected combination competitive in IHRA and NHRA Pro Modified, and put these Awesome Al Anabi hot rods in the winner’s circle in the ADRL’s Pro Nitrous division.”

In addition, AWESOME Al Anabi will collaborate on the development of a supercharged Pro Modified program for competition in the NHRA JEGS ProMod Challenge, utilizing a 1957 Chevy Bel Air built by Tim McAmis (formerly owned by Glen Kerunsky) tuned by Howard Moon and driven by Von Smith. The newly formed AWESOME Al Anabi team hope to further enhance the team’s rich history of success in a new arena, alongside the quickest and fastest door cars in competition.

“While Shannon and I are both content with our nitrous programs, we felt we could show the diversity of our abilities and expand the team’s visibility by branching out into the supercharged arena. Bringing Howard Moon and Von Smith into the equation should help us in assembling a Pro Mod super-power,” Castellana said. “We’re looking to debut the supercharged ’57 at the Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis this September alongside our flagship ’68 Firebird – which will be painted to match – and then taking both our nitrous cars and the blower car overseas to compete there as well.”

As many of the nation’s leading door slammer racers have embarked on racing and tuning endeavors overseas, the team of Castellana and Jenkins only hope to take Pro Mod racing to the next level on a global scale and continue to build the sport world-wide.

ABOUT AL ANABI/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 Gulf at Al-Udeid. The Qatari philosophy was to obtain the best defense by providing the best facilities for U.S. and coalition forces. The Al-Udeid Air Base was built at a cost of more than a billion dollars and can house nearly a hundred air craft.

ABOUT AWESOME MOTORSPORTS
Created by world champion racers Mike Castellana and Shannon Jenkins, AWESOME Motorsports has a long running reputation of re-writing record books with the performance of their nitrous-assisted Pro Modified cars. With a combined seven world championships under their belt, the future looks bright for two of the most dominant racers in the history of the sport.