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Langdon Score = Championship Contention Oct 01, 2019 // NHRA Event FC Results // editorShawn Langdon took control of race day at the NHRA Midwest Nationals and captured his second Funny Car win of the 2019 NHRA season.
The win jumped Langdon into the Funny Car championship conversation with a move from 10th to 7th and an 80 point deficit from the points lead in the category. The Global Electronic Technology Toyota Camry Funny Car took out three Countdown contenders on the way to the winner’s circle. This was Langdon’s 16th career Mello Yello Drag Racing Series victory after registering 14 in Top Fuel.
Langdon’s race day started with a strong driver performance in his first round victory. The No. 10 qualifier took a starting line advantage all the way to a win light on a hole shot win over Johnson Jr. Langdon’s 3.907 second elapsed time combined with his stellar .047 reaction time moved him into the quarterfinals. Johnson’s elapsed time of 3.89 was the only run in the 3.80s and was not enough to defeat Langdon.
Racing against veteran driver Jim Campbell Langdon had lane choice and confidence on his side. At the hit of the throttle his Camry immediately smoked the tires as Campbell began to pull away. Luckily, Campbell also hazed his tires a split second later. Langdon took the opportunity to practice his pedaling skills and he feathered the throttle on his 11,000 hp Funny Car. He was able to regain traction and began reeling in Campbell and by 500 feet he flew past him for the win.
A tough semifinal faced Langdon as he drew one of the quickest and most consistent racecars on the property the past three days. Bob Tasca III earned qualifying bonus points every round and made two solid runs on race day. Langdon and the Global Electronic Technology crew chief tandem of Del Worsham and Nicky Boninfante knew they could step it up and race to their third final round.
The quickest run of the semifinals belonged to Langdon. His 3.953 second run trailered Tasca and gave him lane choice over teammate and final round opponent J.R. Todd.
Langdon faced J.R. Todd in the all-Kalitta final round and both Funny Cars launched hard and Langdon knew he would have his hands full.
“I’m not really sure what happened in the finals. I hit the gas and I heard that thing was laboring, but man it was the final round in the Countdown and I’m not lifting. I was expecting to see the yellow car and I knew our car was struggling, but I never did and we got the win,” said Langdon.
The win moved Langdon up to seventh points and more importantly showed him and his Global Electronic Technology team that a championship is definitely within reach.
Event Essentials: NHRA AAA Midwest Nationals (Sep. 27-29th, 2019)
NAME ET MPH CAREER WIN Winner: Shawn Langdon 4.068 310.41 16th R/UP: JR Todd 4.276 223.32 Low ET: John Force 3.842 Top Speed: Robert Hight 334.90 Bump Spot: 4.232 Event Entries: 18 Cars Posted with files by Kalitta Motorsports and Bruce Biegler
Photos by Gary Nastase & courtesy of NHRA Communications
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