Story By: ROB GOODMAN / KALITTA MOTORSPORTS – YPSILANTI, MI – The excellent season rolls on for Shawn Langdon and his Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team. After a runner-up finish to his teammate, Doug Kalitta, last weekend in Virginia, the 2013 champion wants to flip the result this weekend. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes June 28-30, 2024 at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.
Langdon reached his fourth final round of the season at Virginia Motorsports Park. With wins at Gainesville, Fla., and Phoenix, Langdon has two wins in four final rounds. His teammate has three wins in five final rounds. With both reaching the final last weekend, a Team Kalitta car raced in the final round at every race so far this season except for Pomona, Calif., in March. This past weekend in Virginia, Team Kalitta qualified first and second and finished first and second.
“Great weekend,” Langdon said. “Qualifying one and two and having both cars in the final – we couldn’t have asked for anything better results-wise other than us winning and Doug being the runner-up, but hopefully that day will come really soon.
“It feels amazing for us to be one-two in points. It’s great to see the success that has come from all the hard work that’s been invested into these cars. It’s rewarding, and I’m really happy for the guys. You can definitely see a little bit bigger smile on the guys’ faces, and it obviously gives them a lot of confidence. It’s great for Brian (Langdon Crew Chief Brian Husen) and Alan (Kalitta Crew Chief Alan Johnson) – it’s just great for all of Team Kalitta. As competitive as the Top Fuel class is, having the top-two cars out of one camp is a great feeling.”
This weekend’s race in Norwalk, Ohio is a big-time fan favorite with massive, enthusiastic crowds, and at just 120 miles from the Kalitta Motorsports shop, it’s also the team’s “home race.”
“You know Norwalk will pack the stands – the Bader family does a great job promoting their track,” Langdon added. “It’s definitely exciting to get back there every year to experience the great atmosphere and the (one) dollar ice cream. Hopefully we can make this ‘two Kalitta cars in the final’ thing a trend. It’s the home track for Kalitta so it’ll be an extremely busy weekend which is gonna be awesome. I think everybody’s gonna be riding the high from last week in Richmond of both cars being in the final. I think everyone’s eager to get out there – it’s gonna be a long weekend, but we’ll have a lot of Kalitta people there to enjoy it.”
Race Information:
Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals
Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park; Norwalk, Ohio
TV Schedule (All times eastern):
Qualifying Show 2-4 p.m. Sunday, June 30 on FS1
Finals Round 1: 4-5 p.m. Sunday, June 30 on FS1
Finals: 5-7 p.m. Sunday, June 30 on FOX
2023 Summit NHRA Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 14; lost to Brittany Force.
Shawn Langdon Career Stats: 339 events, 19 wins, 23 runner-up, 363 round wins, 21 No. 1 qualifiers.
2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Results To Date (wins in italics):
Gainesville: Qualified No. 1; defeated Cody Krohn, Justin Ashley, Antron Brown and Billy Torrence.
Pomona: Qualified No. 7; defeated Krista Baldwin; lost to Tony Schumacher.
Phoenix: Qualified No. 5; defeated Josh Hart, Antron Brown, Steve Torrence and Justin Ashley.
Las Vegas 4W: Qualified No. 8; lost to Doug Kalitta and Steve Torrence in the first round.
Charlotte 4W: Qualified No. 7; lost to Antron Brown and Brittany Force in the first round.
Chicago: Qualified No. 4; defeated Cody Krohn, Shawn Reed and Dan Mercier before losing to Antron Brown.
Epping: Qualified No. 4; defeated Shawn Reed and Billy Torrence before losing to Doug Kalitta.
Bristol: Qualified No. 4; defeated Shawn Reed; lost to Tony Schumacher.
Richmond: Qualified No. 1; defeated Lex Joon, Steve Torrence & Antron Brown before losing to Doug Kalitta.