ENNIS, Texas — Can Shawn Langdon make it five straight victories in NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series competition?
We’ll find out this weekend at the Texas Motorplex.
The Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel driver won the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend and followed it up by claiming the first three rounds of the Countdown to the Championship.
Langdon enters round four of the six-race playoffs with a 116-point lead over teammate Doug Kalitta.
Langdon, who has won eight times this season, said his success has years of work behind it.
“The results we’re showing now are from the hard work from the last couple of years,” Langdon said. “We’ve had some good results since Brian (Crew Chief Brian Husen) came on board. We finished fourth the first year, finished second the second year, finished second in the regular season both years, but I knew the capabilities of this team. It just was a matter of time until things started coming together.”
Langdon credits the team’s success on having the right people in place.
“Kalitta has had some great success in the past, but we had a couple years that the Top Fuel cars struggled a little bit,” Langdon said. “Connie (Team Owner Connie Kalitta) allowed Chad Head, our General Manager, to make some changes. Some great people worked on these cars, but for whatever reason, things didn’t work out.
“Right now, I think we have absolutely the best of the best across the board, from crew chiefs to car chiefs to assistant crew chiefs to crew guys to drivers. We have a great organization that’s never satisfied, always striving for perfection. A lot of hard work’s gone into it, and fortunately, now we’re able to get some of the dividends.”
Langdon enters Texas with a 16-round winning streak.
“I try not to really think about it (the 16-round win streak). I just try to do the task at hand, take each run for what it is and address each run in that moment,” he said. “I try not to dwell on the past or think too far ahead. I try to live in the moment and think about the next run. The thing for me is a simple-minded approach and try not to think about it too much. The car is good; it’s making smooth runs and responding very well to the changes Brian makes.
“It’s a great listener so it’s a great-racing car. We just have to try not to mess up. We need to keep doing what we’ve been doing, continue to attack it and keep our game plan.”
Langdon said things have just come together at the right time.
“Brian talks about peaking at the right time, and I feel like we’re peaking at the right time,” Langdon said. “Everything’s working, the parts look good (after runs). Everything works consistently, so we almost have a plug and play deal right now so that’s what we’re going to do. We’ll go to Dallas, look back at the notes from last year, and see if we can make more good runs.”
