The look on Shawn Langdon’s face might have been the most visual of brokenness that drag racing has ever had to offer.
Langdon was very much in the running for the Top Fuel championship. With his second-round defeat of point leader Justin Ashley, he appeared to be well on his way to taking the championship point lead in the semi-finals of the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas.
Langdon left on teammate and defending NHRA Top Fuel champion Doug Kalitta and was pulling away when Kalitta’s dragster suffered breakage. And then, without warning, it happened.
Langdon’s dragster exploded a tire, forcing the racecar over the centerline and turning a sure victory into a heartbreaking defeat. He was still in the running for the title headed into Pomona, but the look on Langdon’s face might as well have been a total loss.
“I’ve raced long enough now I’ve been on both ends of a spectrum, and obviously, I think I more wanted it for Brian and the guys because of how hard they worked and how great of a car they gave me throughout the year,” Langdon explained. “And then especially, coming out of Vegas, that was the lowest point I’ve ever felt in my career.
“I still have nights that I lay in bed, and I think about it. You always just think of what could have been. It cost us some work time, it didn’t cost us the championship. But it cost us a perfectly good race car and hours for the guys. They had to drive back, and we went back and fixed the stuff and got back. You never want to tear up a perfectly good race car.”
You never want to tear up a perfectly good season, either. Headed into Las Vegas, Langdon scored 30 round wins and two national event victories, 17 round wins more than the previous season.
Last season was his first reunited with Brian Husen, a driving force behind his Top Fuel championship in 2013 when they worked together on the Al-Anabi Top Fuel dragster.
The Vegas accident cut to the bone for Langdon.
“I always hold myself to a very high standard, and I just don’t drive that way,” Langdon said. “It was a tough pill for me to swallow—a big ego buster for sure, and a very humbling experience. You can only be down for so long. At some point, it is what it is. You pick yourself up, grow from it, and learn from it. Try to be better and not put yourself in that position again.”
To understand why Langdon took the incident so hard, one must know the promise that came with his reunion with Husen.
In a February 2024 interview with CompetitionPlus.com, Langdon said after the first three days of testing, “The car’s been a dream to drive. Brian and the boys they’ve put in a lot of hours in the offseason, changing a lot of things. And fortunately, the results are showing. The car’s been on a string for the last couple of days. I mean, we have not made a bad run. They came out swinging. We’ve been laying down some really good laps, big speeds, low ETs, parts been looking great. Everything’s kind of getting in sync, and it’s good.
“I’m happy for the guys and especially for Brian.”
Langdon kept swinging in the first quarter of the 2024 season, scoring final round finishes in three of the first six events. He won the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals and never dropped below third all season long, eventually finishing fourth in the final points tally.
“We had a really good year, two wins, seven finals within a couple of rounds of the championship,” Langdon explained. “It was a great year. We feel like we set the standard with how we did last year. We’re looking for more wins, and competing for the championship again. We feel like we have a great team. The guys have been doing a good job. Last year, no mistakes from the guys. And Brian, in his first year as crew chief, made some great calls and gave me a great race car at all times.”
Never mind the first-round loss to Justin Ashley in the PRO Superstar Shootout, Langdon was a contender all week long in Bradenton’s private testing and the event. He was fourth quickest after the first day of private testing and moving up to second after the second day. Once the PRO Superstar Shootout qualifying began, Langdon was third quickest before entering eliminations as the fifth quickest.
In just one season reunited with Husen, Langdon and team have become the opponent that routinely brings out the best in their opponents.
“Gives you more confidence as a driver, obviously,” Langdon said. “Gives you that little bit of spark that you feel like you’re competitive again, which is a good thing. You’re living a dream, and you’re very fortunate to have what you have. But when you’re not competitive, it’s a hard pill to swallow because it’s tough to do what you love and not feel competitive.
‘I feel like we’re competitive. I feel like we’ve got a great team. It’s nice to be able to do that. It’s nice to be able to do that for your team, yourself, the crew chief, Brian, Connie Kalitta, and everything he does. For us and for all your sponsors. It makes you eager to come back to the racetrack.”
It’s not a reach to declare Langdon has the most confidence he’s had as a driver since the 2013 season with Husen.
“I always come in with confidence,” Langdon said. “I feel like I excel with confidence. So whether it’s fabricated confidence or self-made confidence, I try to instill confidence in myself and promote that to the team, the sponsors, and everything. Whether it’s really there or not, you must always have confidence. I always try to be a confident person and build off of that.”
And now, Langdon is building for a strong 2025 with solid brick-and-mortar.
