Coming into race day at the NHRA Midwest Nationals Shawn Langdon and the DHL Kalitta Air Top Fuel team had an uphill battle drawing the eventual race winner Steve Torrence in the first round. Langdon’s best run of qualifying 3.787 seconds was enough to get him into the third quickest Top Fuel field in NHRA history. The field at World Wide Technology Raceway was wide open and stacked with drivers that could take home a victory.
The first round was a clash of champions and each of the dragsters capable of putting up monster numbers. Langdon showed the strength of the DHL Kalitta Air team with a top to bottom excellent performance. Langdon was the first off the line with a stellar .033 reaction time combined with a best of the weekend run of 3.762 seconds. As good as that run was for Langdon, Torrence made the quickest run of the first round to grab the win.
“The first round pass was where we are looking to be on Friday,” said Langdon. “That was a good run for the DHL Kalitta Air team and we just need to duplicate that for the rest of the season. I know we have the team that can get on a roll. We have a week off and we will be ready for the final four playoff races.”
Statistics:
Qualified: No. 14 (3.787 sec, 322.42 mph)
Bonus points: 0
Race Details:
First Round
Driver Qual R/T ET MPH
Shawn Langdon 14 .033 3.762 325.98
Steve Torrence 3 .056 3.669 329.42 (W)
Kalitta Motorsports PR
