When talking to Shawn Langdon Tuesday evening it seemed like he was trying to catch his breath.

Who could blame him for feeling this way?

The day began with him officially being named the driver of Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel silver dragster formerly driven by Larry Dixon. Alan Johnson Racing and Dixon agreed to a mutual separation Monday. Alan Johnson Racing manages the two-car Top Fuel operation of the Al-Anabi Racing Team.

“As a kid, this was a life-long dream for me to get to race for a team like this,” Langdon, 29, said in a phone interview with Competition Plus. “I’m racing for a team that obviously set the bar high as they have won the championship the last two years. Now, I have no more excuses. It is time to get my ‘A’ game and keep this No. 1 on the side of the car. This is a huge opportunity for me and I feel very fortunate to drive for such a high-caliber team with Al-Anabi and Alan Johnson.”

When talking to Shawn Langdon Tuesday evening it seemed like he was trying to catch his breath.

Who could blame him for feeling this way?

The day began with him officially being named the driver of Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel silver dragster formerly driven by Larry Dixon. Alan Johnson Racing and Dixon agreed to a mutual separation Monday. Alan Johnson Racing manages the two-car Top Fuel operation of the Al-Anabi Racing Team.

“As a kid, this was a life-long dream for me to get to race for a team like this,” Langdon, 29, said in a phone interview with Competition Plus. “I’m racing for a team that obviously set the bar high as they have won the championship the last two years. Now, I have no more excuses. It is time to get my ‘A’ game and keep this No. 1 on the side of the car. This is a huge opportunity for me and I feel very fortunate to drive for such a high-caliber team with Al-Anabi and Alan Johnson.”

Del Worsham won the Top Fuel world title for Al-Anabi Racing last season and Dixon was the 2009 world champ. Worsham retired as a driver on Nov. 21, and Al-Anabi Racing still has one seat to fill as the team will field two Top Fuel dragsters in 2012.

“I’m pretty easy going about a lot of stuff,” said Langdon when asked about the pressure of driving for Al-Anabi Racing. “I try not to let a lot of the outside things rattle me. My main focus is to do a good job inside the cockpit and let everything else fall into place. It is going to be a huge learning curve for me because of how fast and how quick these cars are. I have heard a lot from a lot of different people saying that Alan’s cars can be a little bit difficult to drive just because of how fast they are and things happen a lot quicker. I’m sure it will feel like the first day of school when I go to Pomona (Feb. 9-12 for the season opener). I will have a lot of gray areas that I will have to fill in, but I feel very welcomed over here (at Al-Anabi Racing).”

Langdon’s employment with Al-Anabi Racing began Tuesday as he was at a closed test session at Palm Beach (Fla.) International Raceway. According to Chad Head, the director of racing operations at Al-Anabi Racing, the team will be testing at PBIR through Thursday.

“We are still shaking things down,” Langdon said about Tuesday’s test session. “We have not been trying to set the world on fire. There is really nothing for us to talk about or brag about. It is just more trying to get me acclimated with the car, and get the guys acclimated with me.”

Langdon, who resides in Avon, Ind., joins Al-Anabi Racing after spending the last three seasons driving a Top Fuel dragster for Morgan Lucas Racing.

Langdon has 69 career Top Fuel NHRA national event starts and he has four runner-up finishes on his resume, the last coming at the 2011 Winternationals when lost to his teammate Lucas. He finished ninth in the point standings this past season and he also was ninth his rookie year in 2009. Langdon placed a career-best fifth in the points in 2010 when he had two runner-effort efforts at Dallas and the season finale at Pomona, Calif. Langdon also won the NHRA Lucas Oil Super Comp championships in 2007 and 2008.

“I go to the race track and I watched these guys (Al-Anabi Racing) win week in and week out and I was fortunate to get in a Top Fuel ride and I competed against these guys week in and week out,” Langdon said. “They put a hurting on me for a long time, so now to come over here and join them is a huge opportunity for me and I just really want to thank Sheik Khalid(Al-Anabi Racing team owner Sheik Khalid al Thani) for considering me for the ride. I’m kind of in a dream world right now.”