MARTIN, Mich. — Shawn Langdon enjoyed nearly a perfect day on Monday afternoon as he drove his Kalitta Air Careers dragster to his sixth victory of the season in the rain-delayed Great Lakes Nationals at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.
Langdon ran his lowest elapsed time of the season and set the fastest speed in NHRA history while taking the point lead from teammate Doug Kalitta, who he defeated in the semi-final round.
Langdon ran a 3.652-second pass in the opening round to record his best ET of the campaign and reached 346.95 mph during his defeat of Kalitta, shattering his own speed record he had set at South Georgia Motorsports Park earlier in the season.
He surpassed 346 mph again in the final round, hitting 346.15 mph in turning back Spencer Massey.
Langdon was satisfied with the team’s effort during the first NHRA race in its home state in 61 years.
“It just goes to show it takes everything. You go to a facility like US 131 that takes a lot of pride in their facility; it’s beautiful,” Langdon said. “The concrete is awesome, straight, flat, and then you get some good conditions, and really anything’s possible. My guys have been doing such a great job, and I’ve talked over and over about how good my team has been all year long; they just continue to give me a great race car.
“They put it together perfectly, and then Brian (Husen) makes perfect calls, last-minute adjustments, and he races smart. We knew the track was so good, but the problem was being able to get wheel speed. You just had to get everything in sync, but to be able to do that for four runs today, is awesome. I’m proud of the guys to come off the Indy win and get another one here.”
Langdon’s crew chief, Brian Harson, is a native of Grand Rapids, Mich.
“Brian was talking all day about the track being good enough to set a record. We were able to do it on the speed,” Langdon said. “We were just trying to race situations and trying to race smart, not beat ourselves, because there’s always that little bit of a 50/50 shot if you really go for it. Brian raced what he felt was comfortable and gave me a great race car; I just tried not to do anything to mess that up.”
