Racing the CMR Construction and Roofing Top Fuel dragster Shawn Langdon entered race day at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals as the No. 12 qualifier after two days at the track. The 2013 Top Fuel champion was looking to race to his first win at the fall classic from Bruton Smith’s The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In the first round facing fellow Countdown competitor Billy Torrence Langdon was looking for a long race day at the next two last race of the season. In an impressive display of driving skill Langdon jumped off the starting line with a .049 second reaction time giving his CMR Construction and Roofing a solid lead for most of the race. As both 11,000 horsepower dragsters flew to the finish line Langdon’s opponent got around him by. 0001 of a second in the closest race of the event. It was a photo finish that ended Langdon’s bid for victory.
Langdon’s first round elapsed time was an improvement from his qualifying time but not enough to advance to the quarterfinals. With one race remaining in the season Langdon and the CMR Construction and Roofing team will revert to their traditional DHL Kalitta Air look for the NHRA Finals in Pomona.
“That was a really close race for the CMR Construction and Roofing dragster,” said Langdon. “We have had a good race with the CMR team, and I was looking to have a long race day but it just didn’t work out. I thought we had the win, but it just didn’t work out.”
Statistics:
Qualified: No. 12 (3.780 sec, 325.22 mph)
Bonus points: 0
Race Details:
First Round
Driver Qual R/T ET MPH
Shawn Langdon 12 .049 3.781 312.21
Billy Torrence 5 .092 3.738 325.53 (W)
Kalitta Motorsports PR
