Shawn Langdon picked a good day to have a great day at the races Sunday.
Langdon, driving the Future Energy Solutions Dragster for Kalitta Motorsports, won the American Rebel Light NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway near Charlotte.
Langdon’s victory came in NHRA’s 1,000th Top Fuel race.
“My team, man, these guys are badass. I was a little slow on the starting line. I don’t know why, but I had a good race car. Connie Kalitta leads the way, and we’re very fortunate to be able to win the race for him,” Langdon said. “We have Future Energy Solutions on the car this week, but thanks to everyone at Kalitta Air, SoundGear, SealMaster, Dayco and Revchem.
“Man, Brian (crew chief Husen) is such a badass. That right there shows why we love having Brian onboard. I mean, he’s the backbone of this team. What a great win – the 1,000th Top Fuel race – that’s special; that’s pretty cool.”
This was Langdon’s 21st career national event win – his 19th in Top Fuel to go along with his two Funny Car Wallys. Langdon also won the 2013 NHRA Top Fuel championship.
Langdon leaves Charlotte in first place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings and a 59-point advantage over second-place Tony Stewart. Last month, Langdon won the Arizona Nationals near Phoenix.
On Sunday, Langdon defeated Ida Zetterstrom and Scott Farley in the first round, Brittany Force and Josh Hart in the second round. He advanced to the final round to face Antron Brown, Tony Stewart and Justin Ashley.
In the final, Ashley was off the starting line first, but Langdon drove around him with a 3.714-second pass at 330.63 mph to get the win. Ashley (3.776), Stewart (3.792), and Brown (5.441) finished second, third and fourth in the quad.
Following Langdon’s win, NHRA legend Don Garlits, the winner of the first Top Fuel race in 1963, presented the special 1,000th race trophy, a replica of the one Garlits won, to Sunday’s victor.
“I’m so lucky. I race for Connie Kalitta, I have a great team, and my teammates are Doug Kalitta and J.R. Todd. It’s just kind of crazy how life brought me here and crazy that I’m in this position – never in my wildest dreams,” Langdon said. “It’s very, very cool. I’m very honored to be the 1,000th Top Fuel winner. It’s a great accomplishment in this sport with so much history. Don Garlits and Connie Kalitta both signed the final-round time slip – that’s one that will go front and center in the trophy case.
“Crazy. I don’t even know how to put it into words because it’s just like I look back at just being a kid and just going to the races and getting all their autographs and just loving the sport and being a part of it. So, pretty gratifying.”
After a runner-up finish at the season-opening Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, and a win in Phoenix, he reached the semifinals of the Winternationals. Langdon unexpectedly lost in the first-round quad of the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals on April 13 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“Obviously after Vegas it was kind of like, hope history doesn’t repeat itself. But I know that I got a good team and Brian’s very smart,” Langdon said. “The things he goes through and the things that he addresses and the things that we talk about, he gets it, man. And that’s just why he’s had the success that he’s had as a crew chief. So, yeah, obviously it’s in the back of your mind, but it’s not something that alters your course of thinking because I believe in this team so much. I feel like we’re going to, we have a good shot, we have a great race car. And obviously that race car carried me today.”
However, he bounced back nicely in Charlotte.
“Obviously, the sport has so much history, so to be a part of that, honestly, it’s very humbling,” Langdon said. “But I’m very grateful and I’m very satisfied with the team and how they did today, giving me … They won the race. It wasn’t anything I did, I just held on. I held it straight. So, just being a part of a great team, honestly.”
And Langdon knows nothing comes easy in this sport, especially in Top Fuel.
“The competition is so tough, really, so it’s not like you really get any easy rounds,” Langdon said. “Running the final, with Tony (Stewart), he’s been having a great year. And man, he’s impressive. He’s done a great job in the short amount of time he’s been driving a car. And then obviously (Antron Brown) is the reigning champ, and Justin Ashley is the best leaver in the class, hands down. So, when I’m in that situation, it’s like I have to step it up. And the problem was I went the other way. I felt like I tried a little too hard there. I was trying to be .050 and I ended up being .070.
“Sometimes you go the wrong way, but the thing about being part of a great team, they carry you when you miss a tree a little bit. And it’s kind of funny, I was talking with Brian, and he said, ‘You saved me a couple of times last year … It’s my turn to repay you.’ When you’re part of a great team, you pick up where they may miss, and they pick you up when you may miss. So, it’s a great team to be a part of.”
Stewart is on record saying how much he likes four-wide NHRA races because it takes drivers out of their comfort zone – but Langdon doesn’t see it that way.
“I’m glad he thinks that, but that’s not true. No, the staging procedure, everything’s the same,” Langdon said. “The only time it’s goofy is when you get in situations that people can’t back up or they … just things like that. When everything’s right, everything procedurally is all the same. Your run time’s the same, how you stage. You just look at three other bulbs instead of one other bulb.
“So, it doesn’t really throw anybody off, but it’s just, the whole thing, there’s just a lot going on. When we went through, I knew I was on a good run, but I didn’t know what the blinking light, if that meant you won or got second or the solid light because this whole thing’s challenging in itself. I just went with it. Like I said, I honestly, when I lifted and hit the chutes, saw Justin’s nose peek out on me. So, I was like, ‘Man, I think I might’ve lost a holeshot to Justin.’ I noticed his bulbs had dropped out before mine, so it was in the shutdown area, I was really like, ‘Dang, I guess we got second. That might’ve been on me. I didn’t hit the tree well.’ And then like I said, until I rolled around, and got the thumbs up, so I knew I won.”
Langdon is known as a great leaver on the starting line – something he sharpens while racing bracket cars in his spare time.
“It’s just the same thing but quicker, honestly. Yeah, it sounds goofy, but it really is. It’s just the same thing but quicker,” Langdon said. “Eventually you get back to the same mindset because that’s just the mindset you grew up racing. That’s how you train yourself if you notice the bulb. So yeah, there’s a lot of times that I notice if I leave in front and I’m just saying, ‘Please don’t smoke tires.’ But there’s times where they may leave in front of you and you go, ‘Oh, shit, here we go. Well, hopefully we got a race car.’ So luckily we made it to the final.”
Langdon was full of praise for Husen, someone he’s been working with for many years with Alan Johnson and Al-Anabi Racing.
“I’ve always felt like, dating back to the Alan days, that Brian was very capable of being a crew chief back then,” Langdon said. “He was obviously underneath Alan for all those years, and Alan obviously is one of the most brilliant minds that the sport’s ever seen. And for him to bring Brian in into that situation says a lot about Brian, because if Alan believes in you, then he knows, right? So working with him for all those years, and obviously after the Al-Anabi thing disbanded and then we went our separate ways, we always kept in contact.
“But I always knew that Brian was very capable. He just never had the opportunity. And we’d always talked about in those seasons of being on different teams about one day we’ll get back together. Something like that. I always knew of his talents. I’ve always known how incredible and how great he was. It’s just now the world gets to see it. Now he gets to show the world how badass he really is. And I’m just the lucky one that gets to be in the car while he does that.”
