After a dominating performance to start the NHRA Countdown to the Championship in Martin, Mich., Shawn Langdon kept his victory train rolling Sunday in Rockingham, N.C.
Langdon clocked 3.739-second elapsed time at 342.73 mph to defeat teammate Doug Kalitta, who ran a quicker 3.722-second time at 330.40 mph in the finals of the inaugural NHRA Nationals at The Rock.
The difference was at the starting line. Langdon had a stellar .024-second reaction time compared to Kalitta’s .052 launch.
“We knew for the final round we had to make a picture-perfect run,” Langdons said. “AJ [Alan Johnson, Kalitta’s crew chief] has been running really well. He’s got a great handle on that car. The Mac Tools guys have been doing a great job, and Doug’s really been driving lights out with his reaction times, his consistency. I knew going to the final I had to figure out a way to try to find something on the starting line.
“I know that Brian [crew chief Husen] – we’re down four-hundredths in the semis, and we’re going back to that same lane. We knew that AJ wasn’t going to lay up in the final, and Brian was very, very aware of that. So, he was doing some homework. I just tried to do my part on the starting line, and I knew I had to do everything I could, because, like I said, Doug’s been really lights out this year.”
The Kalitta Motorsports team has been a dominant force this year with Langdon and Kalitta combining for 11 wins in the 16 races now in the books. Langdon has now won seven.
Sunday’s victory at Rockingham was the team’s sixth national-event Top Fuel win in a row. Kalitta won Sonoma, Calif., Seattle, and Brainerd, Minn., and Langdon won the prestigious 72nd annual Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, the inaugural Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals in Martin, Mich., and Rockingham.
“I think it talks a lot about the quality of the team, the Kalitta Air team. They go into a new racetrack with no information, and they’re able to go make good runs,” Langdon said. “They do their homework, and they pay attention, and every detail matters. And I know that Brian’s very big on details, and he’s very detail oriented. And I think, you know, my opinion is that that pays big dividends when you’re going to new racetracks.”
Langdon’s seven wins this season have come at: the Arizona Nationals in Phoenix; the Southern Nationals in Adel, Ga.; the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Joliet, Ill.; the NHRA Potomac Nationals in Mechanicsville, Md.; the U.S. Nationals; the Great Lakes Nationals, and Rockingham.
On Sunday, Langdon, the No. 3 qualifier in the show, defeated Cameron Ferre, Billy Torrence, Shawn Reed, and then Kalitta.
“We had to really look at things differently from Martin,” Langdon said. “Obviously, Martin was really a throwdown, and here with the sun out, you know, we weren’t really sure about the characteristics of the track, just how temperamental it gets if the sun’s out, and how the rubber holds, and all that kind of stuff. So, a lot of it was just obviously last-minute decisions. I feel like Brian’s done a really good job, especially this last year, but the last couple years of just making good gut decisions. A lot of it comes down to just the last-minute call. But he’s done such a good job over and over, I think it’s just built a lot of confidence in himself to where he feels good about the calls when he’s making those last-minute changes.”
Langdon now has earned 29 national events in his career, 27 of which are in Top Fuel. Langdon also won two Wallys while driving a nitro Funny Car for Kalitta Motorsports in 2019.
Langdon won his lone NHRA Top Fuel championship in 2013 driving for Al-Anabi Racing. That season he won a career-best seven races, a feat which he has now matched.
“I feel like we’ve had a good car in situations where it’s, you know, the fastest car out of the gate,” Langdon said. “Then I feel like we get a good car when we start off slow and it was spinning tires on the first run, and then the second run drops a [cylinder]. And Brian really gets dug into the computer and really starts getting into it and all the finer details of things.
“I really feel like this team’s really come into its own this year with all the little things of just knowing situationally knowing the car. Certain situations really, focusing on lane choice and I just feel like we have a good car to compete for the championship.”
With his latest victory, Langdon sits atop the season points standings 25 in front of his teammate and reigning champion Kalitta.
“I think we use that to our advantage [when we race each other] because we know how good that car is. … To beat those guys, you have to be perfect,” Langdon said. “We have a good team, and Brian’s really worked with the guys, and the guys have done a great job double-checking, triple-checking themselves, and working together to be perfect. And that’s one thing, like I said, Brian, he strives for. And it’s just we’re out here to do the job. We’re out here to win races.
“You have to be perfect in order to do things like this, and it is a testament to the guys really bonding together and working hard and keeping their heads down and going out there and winning the race and keeping their heads down and working just as hard for the next one. We’ll do the same thing for St. Louis.”
World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., located east of St. Louis across the Mississippi River, hosts the NAPA NHRA Midwest Nationals next weekend (Oct. 2-4).
