As the second race of the Western Swing gets underway this weekend at Sonoma Raceway Shawn Langdon and the Global Electronic Technology Funny Car team are heading to northern California with confidence and momentum. The team is making strides at just the right time with only four races left in the NHRA regular season.
Last weekend in Denver at the Mile High NHRA Nationals Langdon raced to the quarterfinals but was even more encouraged by the performance numbers of his Global Electronic Technology Toyota Camry Funny Car. Racing at the mile high altitude the team qualified No. 9 but made consistent runs with the rest of the Funny Car field including a big first round victory over veteran Tim Wilkerson. The win moved Langdon up to ninth in the Mello Yello point standings and also put more pressure on the teams behind him in the standings.
“I feel like to have a good race car for hot conditions when the sun is out,” said Langdon. “Right now I feel like we can run when it is 120 degrees on track. I am about as excited as I have ever been with this race car. Race by race it is coming together. We are getting teased pretty good by it. It is showing us a lot of potential and I don’t think we have hit our full stride yet.”
The move from the mountain to Sonoma Raceway is a welcome adjustment for Langdon. The diversity of conditions is one of the characteristics that makes the Western Swing unique and challenging. The Global Electronic Technology team is looking to get to conditions more similar to where they recently had success.
“You go from Denver where you have to change out a lot of parts that you only run at that race. We relate Sonoma a lot more to how we ran in Epping when we raced to the final,” said Langdon. “It is a similar situation, high barometer and we are at sea level. We will be able to make power. In Denver you are trying really hard to make power but when you get to Sonoma you are automatically making power. The key is to manage that which I feel like we can do. I feel very confident.”
Langdon has had success at Sonoma Raceway racing in Top Fuel. In 2013 he took the Top Fuel title with a win over Morgan Lucas and the following year he raced back to the finals, dropping a close race to Khalid alBalooshi. If Langdon can pick up his second career Funny Car win and first Funny Car win at Sonoma Raceway he will join a very short list of dual nitro class winners at the historic northern California track. Only NHRA Hall of Famer and legend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Langdon’s teammate J.R. Todd have achieved that feat.
“Any time you can match a career achievement with Prudhomme you know you have done something special,” said Langdon. “To be able to add my name to that select group that also includes my teammate J.R. makes it even cooler. We are going to approach this race with the mindset of getting the most out of every round of qualifying and then focus on race day.”
2018 Sonoma NHRA Nationals Highlights: Qualified No. 8; Lost to John Force
Last Event Recap (2019 Mile High NHRA Nationals): Qual. No. 9; Beat Tim Wilkerson; Lost to Robert Hight
Quotable: Langdon heading to Sonoma: “This is one of the nicest facilities on the tour. My focus is going to be to win the last two races of the Western Swing and that starts with a good race this weekend in Sonoma.”
Career Stats: Qual. No. 9; Beat Tim Wilkerson; Lost to Robert Hight; in Funny Car 38 events, 38 starts, 26 round wins, 1 wins, 2 finals, 0 No. 1 qualifiers
2019 Season:
Winternationals: Qual. No. 6; Beat Jim Campbell; Lost to Tommy Johnson Jr.
Arizona Nationals: Qual. No. 7; Beat Cruz Pedregon; Lost to Matt Hagan
Gatornationals: Qual. No. 10; Lost to Cruz Pedregon
Las Vegas1: Qual. No. 8; Lost to Tim Wilkeron and Jeff Diehl
Houston: Qual. No. 10; Beat Cruz Pedregon; Lost to Ron Capps
Charlotte1: Qual 5; WINNER; Beat Jeff Diehl and Terry Haddock; Beat J.R. Todd and Tommy Johnson Jr; Beat Robert Hight, John Force and Matt Hagan
Atlanta: Qual. No. 6; Lost to Ron Capps
Richmond: Qual. No. 5; Beat Tim Wilkerson; Lost to J.R. Todd
Chicago: Qual. No. 4; Lost to Jeff Arend
Topeka: Qual. No. 8; Lost to Robert Hight
Bristol: Qual. No. 2; Beat Jeff Diehl; Lost to Ron Capps
Norwalk: Qual. No. 12; Beat Blake Alexander; Lost to Jack Beckman
Epping: Qual. No. 5;RUNNER-UP; Beat Jim Campbell, Robert Hight, Tim Wilkerson; Lost to Matt Hagan
Denver: Qual. No. 9;Beat Tim Wilkerson; Lost to Robert Hight
Kalitta Motorsports PR
