Shawn Langdon, Kalitta Air Careers Top Fuel Dragster
Finals Broadcast Replay: 8-11 p.m. eastern time Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 on FS2
Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 2 qualifier at the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals. His best qualifying attempt came in the final session Saturday evening when the Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team reached the finish line in 3.672 seconds at 334.57 mph. Langdon qualified in the top-five positions at six of the last eight races.
Eliminations: Langdon defeated Jasmine Salinas and points leader Justin Ashley to reach the semifinals where he raced his teammate, Doug Kalitta. Langdon was off the starting line first, and Kalitta had a rear-end malfunction. Langdon was cruising to the round win, but the Kalitta Air Careers car veered left and crossed the center line knocking out some timing blocks. Langdon’s left-rear tire was cut and shredded pushing the car towards the right wall. The 2013 Top Fuel champion did a masterful job keeping the car off the wall, but he was disqualified when he crossed the center line giving the round win to Kalitta.
Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Las Vegas in third place in the NHRA Mission Foods Top Fuel point standings. He trails second-place Antron Brown by one point and first-place Justin Ashley by 45 points with one race remaining in the season. He leads the drivers tied for fourth, his teammate Doug Kalitta and Steve Torrence, by 40 points. With 30 points per round win at stake in the season’s final race, Langdon is very much in contention for his second Top Fuel title.
Langdon on Las Vegas: “I hit the gas (in the semifinals), and the car was making a great run. From the time I hit the gas, I felt it kind trying to pull me left, so I just was trying to get a little bit of input in it (turn the steering wheel). That right lane likes to suck you into the inside, and that’s just a common thing. So I try to cheat it right just a little bit, meaning pointing the car just a little bit right and run that right edge and let it bring me back in. It kept pulling me left, and I kept trying to put input in it and, in the dragster, if you get your hands up around 12 and six, that’s a lot of input for a dragster.
“When it catches, it’s gonna shoot you across the place, you gotta keep that in mind, and I just kept putting more input in it, and it just was not coming back. Next thing I know, it’s like ‘sh–, there’s a block.’ I ran over the thing, the tire blows, and at that point it’s just trying to salvage what you can. I hate it for the guys. It’s the first time I’ve ever hit anything in my career. Never hit a cone, never hit a wall – I’ve taken pride in that a long time. I feel bad for the guys. They’ve worked their ass off. We have a championship team. We still have a shot at the championship – that’s the most-important thing. I love this sport – love everything about it.”
Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster
Finals Broadcast Replay: 8-11 p.m. eastern time Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 on FS2
Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 3 qualifier at the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals. During the final qualifying session Saturday evening, Kalitta made his best run of qualifying – a 3.674-second effort at 334.57 mph. It was his 12th top-four qualifying effort of the season.
Eliminations: Kalitta fell just short of a “season sweep” of the races on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kalitta defeated Ida Zetterstrom and Antron Brown to advance to the semifinals against his teammate, Shawn Langdon. In the semifinals, Kalitta had a rear-end malfunction, and Langdon was cruising to the round win when Langdon’s Kalitta Air Careers car veered left and crossed the center line. At that moment, Langdon was disqualified, and Kalitta was awarded the round win. Cleanup from the incident and quickly-dropping temperatures forced postponement of the remainder of the race to Monday afternoon when Kalitta faced Brittany Force in the final round. Kalitta’s Mac Tools dragster smoked the tires almost immediately, and Force cruised to the win. It was Kalitta’s seventh final round of the season.
Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta jumped three spots in the standings and leaves Las Vegas tied with Steve Torrence for fourth place in the NHRA Mission Foods Top Fuel point standings. He and Torrence trail third-place Shawn Langdon by 40 points, trail points leader Justin Ashley by 85 and lead sixth-place Clay Millican by eight points with one race remaining in the season.
Kalitta on Las Vegas: “It would’ve definitely been nice to get those extra 20 points (by winning the final round). We were trying to throw down. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it (down the track), but we’re in a good spot going to Pomona. That place is usually really good to us. We’re all hungry here and obviously, it’d be nice to get this thing to the winner’s circle for sure (at Pomona).”
J.R. Todd, DHL Funny Car
Finals Broadcast Replay: 8-11 p.m. eastern time Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024 on FS2
Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 8 qualifier at the Ford Performance NHRA Nationals. His best run of the four qualifying sessions was his first attempt Friday afternoon when he made a 3.898-second run at 327.82 mph.
Eliminations: Todd was off the starting line quicker than Cruz Pedregon, but the DHL GR Supra had traction problems early in the run. The 2018 Funny Car champion pedaled but could not catch Pedregon, who posted a clean 3.924-second pass to win the round.
Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves Las Vegas in eighth place in the NHRA Mission Foods Funny Car point standings. He trails seventh-place Dan Wilkerson by 34 points and leads ninth-place Chad Green by 36 points with one race remaining in the season.
Next Race: Team Kalitta will be back in action Nov. 15-17, 2024 at the In ‘n Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif., the last of six races making up the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs. For additional information, please visit www.nhra.com. For additional information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com.
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