It was quite the memorable weekend for Shawn Langdon at the Southern Nationals at South Georgia Motorsports Park.
The veteran Top Fuel driver for Kalitta Motorsports became the fastest driver ever in the NHRA class when he clocked a 345.00 mph run during the second round of qualifying Friday. On Saturday, he backed up the historic mph run with a 344.91 mph pass in the final qualifying session.
Langdon, who now owns the two fastest runs in NHRA history, capped his weekend with a Wally.
Langdon clocked a 3.808-second elapsed time at 333.16 mph to defeat his teammate Doug Kalitta’s 3.954-second lap at 314.61 mph in the final round Sunday.
“Very satisfying. I mean, it’s always a good weekend when you can wake up in the morning and see your team on Yahoo Sports and New York Times and all that,” Langdon said. “A lot of people are following. A lot of people are sending me stuff. So, it’s pretty cool to see what type of outreach there is with this sport. Then to be able to be the ones that do it, it’s just credit to the team. They’ve done such a great job. There’s a lot of hard work that went into the offseason of trying to improve a lot of things with our car, and it’s paying big dividends right now. The car’s running very well, and all three cars are running fantastic right now.”
This was Langdon’s second win of the season – his first victory at the Arizona Nationals on March 22 – and 24th national event win of his career and 22nd in Top Fuel. Langdon also captured two Wallys while driving a nitro Funny Car for Kalitta Motorsports in 2019.
Langdon also won the 2013 NHRA Top Fuel championship driving for Al Anabi Racing.
With his team breaking speed records, Langdon acknowledged it is tougher to then have to dial things back at times to turn on win lights.
“You get the little taste of the 345 [mph], and it’s just kind of like you got to kind of get a little ego check where you just slow it down a little bit and understand you have to make changes and adapt to what the racetrack is going to be able to give you and provide,” Langdon said. “It’s kind of a survival at that point, just figure out how to get the car to go down the track. We just need to go down the track, and that was a big point of emphasis for Brian [Husen, Langdon’s crew chief] and the whole Kalitta Air team.
“Then going to the final, Brian said, ‘Well, I’m just going to try to get the car to match what I think Doug’s going to run, and you and Doug have it out.’ So I didn’t exactly particularly like that scenario because I wasn’t really hitting the tree well today, but we got it done, and fortunately, we got the win.”
On Sunday, Langdon, who qualified No. 2, ousted Cameron Ferre, Antron Brown, Clay Millican and Kalitta – finding power in the left lane at times when others had trouble.
“You just had to run it [the left lane] a little bit differently. Like I said, just each lane was a little bit different,” Langdon said. “And this track is really good. It provides really good grip numbers for us. So based on grip numbers, we should run a lot faster than what it’s showing. But there’s just some things with the track that we kind of found throughout the weekend, just certain little areas that we had to kind of tiptoe.
“It’s kind of like a ‘tiptoe haul ass’ because once you get through the area, you can really run very well. It was a little bit tricky. It’s kind of cool where it’s not just a throw down. You really got to do your homework, and you gotta dig deep in notes and look through some things. And that’s what Brian was doing in between every round.”
Langdon leaves Georgia in first place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He leads his teammate, Kalitta, by four points.
“Yeah, I do,” said Langdon when told in the winner’s press conference that he has the best dragster in the Top Fuel class right now. “And it’s just the amount of confidence that the team’s given me. Our team, it’s just I really feel like this is one of the best teams I’ve ever driven for from top to bottom. These guys are good, and they’re good week in and week out, and they have a good attitude, and they work hard, and they all get along.
“It has been a constant work in progress the last couple of years. But now I really feel like across the board, it’s like all three teams [including Funny Car points leader J.R. Todd] are really working well together and sharing information, sharing notes, and everybody kind of pitches in. It’s really good right now.”
Langdon has become a historical figure in NHRA. On April 27, 2025, he won the historic 1000th NHRA race at the American Rebel Light 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, N.C. Then, he went 345 mph – faster than any driver in the sport’s history – en route to his victory at South Georgia.
“This is crazy. And then I drive for a living legend, Connie Kalitta. It’s like I don’t know. I’m just lucky. I’m very lucky. And the opportunities that I get like that, it’s kind of just pinch-me moments, really. And there’s some days where it’s like I’m kind of like, ‘Hey, how did I wake up and I’m in this moment?’ right, where it’s like Don Garlits presented a trophy. He’s like, ‘Hey, I remember you from last year.’ That’s pretty cool, man. … It’s just wild. One day I’m driving a Junior Dragster, next day I have Don Garlits giving me trophies. It’s wild.
“And time flies. And it’s kind of been like that the last couple of years. I look back and it’s like, ‘Man, I’ve already been with Kalitta for almost 10 years now.’ And it’s just like I’ve really kind of done that the last couple of years of really just enjoying the ride, enjoying the moment because it flies by, and it’ll be gone before you know it. Especially with these times right now, being in a good race car and just enjoying every minute of it.”
Doug Kalitta won NHRA Top Fuel championships in 2023 and ’25, and a year ago he and Langdon were 1-2 in the final points standings. Playing second fiddle fuels Langdon even more.
“The best feeling is that your teammate is your biggest competition. And the best part about it is Brian [Husen] doesn’t want to or AJ [Alan Johnson, Doug’s crew chief] doesn’t want Brian to catch up to him, and Brian keeps working harder every week. It’s like last week when Doug outran us in the final (at the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, on April 26). Brian was happy for AJ and Doug to win that, but I could tell that lit a fire under him where he’s like, ‘I’m not going to let that happen two weeks in a row.’
“So fortunately, I get to hold the steering wheel and reap the benefits of that, of Brian’s determination, and all the guys, too. But I really feel like Brian and Alan feed off of each other, and they’re always pushing each other. They’re not content with where they’re at. They’re always trying to be better, and they’re making their cars better. And when one outruns the other, then the other one comes back stronger. And so, they just keep elevating their game. And fortunately, Doug and I get to be the ones that drive the race cars.”
