Driving the DHL Toyota Top Fuel dragster with Kalittaair.com/Careers emblazoned on the side Shawn Langdon raced into the Carolina Nationals looking to rekindle some of their previous success. Langdon had won at zMax Dragway in Top Fuel and Funny Car and with the Countdown underway the 2013 Top Fuel champion was looking to make a move in the points. Through two days of qualifying Langdon battled to enter race day as the No. 12 qualifier in an extremely quick field. His best time of 3.746 seconds at 322.19 mph set him up with a tough first round race against teammate Doug Kalitta, the No. 5 qualifier, who after the first day of qualifying was the provisional No. 1 Top Fuel dragster.
On Sunday morning Langdon knew his best chance against the perennial championship contender was to get a jump off the starting line and make his best run of the weekend. The veteran driver who is recognized as one of the quickest drivers off the starting line took a starting line advantage with a .049 second light to Kalitta’s .058 second reaction time. As both 11,000-horsepower land rockets flew down the track they were side-by-side but Kalitta was able to get the nose of his dragster out in front.
In one of the closest races all day Kalitta advanced to the second round with a 3.710 second pass over Langdon’s 3.731 second run. It was Langdon’s best effort of the weekend, but it was not enough to get a win light for the DHL Toyota Top Fuel dragster. The margin of victory at the finish line was six feet with both dragsters running 327.19 mph.
“We hate to run a teammate that early in the day, but it was a really close race,” said Langdon, a two-time finalist in 2022. “Doug had a great run and my DHL guts stepped up like I knew they would. We are going to take the positives of that run and head to St. Louis in a few days.”
Starting on Friday Langdon and the DHL Toyota team will be able to work on their qualifying position and put themselves in position to grab win lights on Sunday. Through a program with primary sponsor DHL every time Langdon turns on a win light over the next three races 20,000 meals will be donated to Feeding America.
Statistics:
Qualified: Qual. 12 (3.746 sec, 322.19 mph)
Bonus points: 0
Race Details:
First Round
Qual Driver RT ET MPH
12 Shawn Langdon .049 3.731 327.19
5 Doug Kalitta .058 3.710 327.19 (W)
Kalitta Motorsports PR
