This time, Shawn Langdon enjoyed victory without controversy.
This time, he not only turned on the win light, he got to leave the track with the trophy for his victory in Top Fuel.
Langdon won the Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals on Sunday, covering the 1,000-foot Pacific Raceways distance in 3.662 seconds, 337.07 mph. That was more than enough to handle the off-pace 4.040, 215.93 by Brittany Force and score his first win at the track near Seattle.
In late June, Langdon was first across the finish line at the American Rebel Light Virginia NHRA Nationals near Richmond. But shortly after the event ended, it was announced that the outcome was under review. The following day, NHRA announced that Langdon had been disqualified due to missing bolts on the inspection cover of his dragster’s bell housing, and Justin Ashley was handed the victory.
Sunday’s victory at Pacific Raceways had Langdon enjoying victory the way he couldn’t a month ago.
“The guys did a fantastic job. They gave me a great race car. For me, it was just holding on – professional steering wheel holder today,” said Langdon, who piloted the Kalitta Air 25th Anniversary entry this weekend. “It’s awesome coming to tracks like this up here. When you have a great surface coupled with great air, that’s what you’re going to see. We knew the expectations for today of what we wanted to do, what we wanted to accomplish. … Brian [Husen, Langdon’s crew chief] just kind of kept picking away at the car, and we’re trying to run a little bit better in the final, but that’s okay. All in all, A+ effort for the guys.”
The win was Langdon’s third of the season and his 22nd national-event win (20 in Top Fuel, two in Funny Car in 2019). Langdon also earned the 2013 NHRA Top Fuel championship.
On Sunday, by defeating Cameron Ferre and Tony Stewart, then taking a bye run in the semis, he ousted Force in the finals to reach a career milestone. He now has 402 career round wins, and his elimination-round record in 2025 increased to 24-8. Langdon has wins this season at the Arizona Nationals in Phoenix (March 23), the American Rebel Light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, N.C. (April 27), and Seattle.
As a bonus, Langdon leaves Seattle in first place in the NHRA standings with a 12-point lead over Tony Stewart. Three races remain in the regular season.
“Just keep doing the same thing. It’s honestly what it boils down to,” Langdon said. “Just keep doing the same thing, keep making great runs and … It’s good competition, so it’s not going to be easy, but just got to keep being perfect and make great runs.”
Langdon continued Kalitta Motorsports’ dominance in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday, winning the specialty race for the fourth time this season Langdon made a spectacular run to close out qualifying and win the bonus race over Stewart, blasting down the track in 3.718 seconds at 338.17 mph in his 12,000-horsepower dragster.
The fourth Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win of the season ties Langdon with teammate Doug Kalitta for the most victories in the bonus race this year.
“It’s awesome, honestly. This situation is what you dreamed about as a kid, being able to drive a Top Fuel car and then have to be competitive, but it’s awesome for Connie, seeing a smile on his face is very, very rewarding,” Langdon said. And then it’s cool. It’s like I kind of look at our situation, it’s Brian and I against – even though we’re teammates – against Doug and Alan [Johnson, Doug’s crew chief], but we’re teammates at the end of the day.
“But I grew up watching Doug. I was a big fan of Doug Kalitta back in the day, and Brian worked right under Alan for many years, so it’s kind of like us kids kind of against the adults. But it’s cool. AJ does a great job and so does Doug. It’ll be exciting to see how the season plays out, and hopefully our two cars are on top.”
Langdon is excited for what the remainder of the season holds.
“I just feel like we just have a one-track mind, and it’s just to go win every day race for the rest of the year and leave no doubts and leave no questions,” he said.
