Shawn Langdon raced to a runner-up finish today at the NHRA Mile High Nationals driving the DHL Toyota Top Fuel dragster. It was the second final round in three races for the 2013 Top Fuel world champion. Langdon started the day as the No. 12 qualifier and outran Greg Carrillo, Mike Salinas and Josh Hart before exiting the final round against Leah Pruett.
In the first round Langdon made his quickest run of the weekend against Carrillo grabbing the win light with a strong 3.891 second pass at 312.57 mph. Both drivers launched side-by-side, but Carrillo smoked the tires in the left lane while Langdon pulled away from him for the win.
The quarterfinals featured Langdon blasting to the finish line behind the wheel of the DHL Toyota Top Fuel dragster with an even quicker pass, 3.871 seconds, to get the win over Salinas. Langdon grabbed the lead shortly after he cleared the tree and never trailed in the race outrunning Salinas’ 3.901 second run. The beck-to-back quick runs continued a strong string of race day runs for Langdon and the DHL team.
After Langdon dispatched the Top Fuel pointe leader in the previous round he was faced with No. 9 qualifier Hart. The race matched up two drivers recognized as the best leavers in the category when it comes to reaction time advantage. Langdon was first off the line with a .063 reaction time and never trailed in the race. His winning time of 3.900 seconds was enough to trailer Hart’s 3.935 seconds in one of the closest races of the day.
Langdon and the DHL Toyota team were confident heading into the final round against Pruett. He had a 13-5 win record against Pruett and was 1-0 against her in final rounds. Both dragsters rolled to the starting line and executed their pre-race burnouts. As Langdon was rolling back NHRA officials noticed a leak underneath the DHL dragster and Langdon was forced to shut off and hand his opponent a bye run for the event win.
“That was a very frustrating end to a great day for this DHL Toyota team,” said Langdon. “My guys worked so hard all day and delivered a great car. We made some great runs. In the final, we are still diagnosing exactly what happened, but it is a major bummer to get up there and not have a shot at it. It’s tough to think big picture right now, but again, I’m proud of the effort of my team.”
“We have now gone to two of the last three final rounds. If we keep delivering this consistency, I know we will get back into winner’s circle soon. Thank you to all of our partners, DHL, CMR, Revchem, Toyota – everybody that allows to do what we love to do. We will get back after it in Sonoma,” added Langdon.
Statistics:
Qualified: Qual. 12 (3.901 sec, 312.93 mph)
Bonus points: 0
Race Details:
First Round
Qual Driver RT ET MPH
12 Shawn Langdon .086 3.891 312.57 (W)
5 Greg Carrillo .085 5.367 136.19
Second Round
Qual Driver RT ET MPH
12 Shawn Langdon .075 3.871 315.49 (W)
4 Mike Salinas .056 3.901 303.84
Semifinals
Qual Driver RT ET MPH
12 Shawn Langdon .063 3.900 313.95 (W)
9 Josh Hart .076 3.935 313.44
Final Round
Qual Driver RT ET MPH
12 Shawn Langdon No time
3 Leah Pruett .078 3.884 316.38 (W)
Kalitta Motorsports PR
