Alan Johnson Racing ready for the 61st annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals
Shawn Langdon enters the Chevrolet Performance NHRA U.S. Nationals in sixth place in the NHRA Mello Yello Top 
Fuel point standings. He trails fifth-place Doug Kalitta by five points and leads seventh-place Brittany Force by eight points.
The U.S. Nationals will award 150 percent of the standard points allocation. At a standard national event, the race winner earns 100 points, the runner-up earns 80, semifinalists earn 60, quarterfinalists earn 40, and teams losing in the first round earn 20 points. At the U.S. Nationals, those point allocations will be 150, 120, 90, 60 and 30, respectively.
The Knuckle Sandwich Toyota team has been strong at the last two races. After starting the season in top form and then struggling, Langdon has a final round and a semifinal appearance in the last two races and has climbed from a season-low 10th place in points back up to sixth with only the U.S. Nationals remaining in the regular season.
AJR team owner Alan Johnson has eight Top Fuel victories in the U.S. Nationals. Langdon won the U.S. Nationals in 2013; it was the third Alan Johnson Racing win at the prestigious event. The team also won the U.S. Nationals with former AJR drivers Larry Dixon (2010) and Gary Scelzi (1998). Johnson won the U.S. Nationals five times while serving as the crew chief on the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster. One year ago at the U.S. Nationals, Langdon was the No. 5 qualifier; he defeated Spencer Massey before losing to event winner Richie Crampton in the quarterfinals.
Langdon is competing in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout for the third time in as many years; he is eligible as the winner of the season-opening Circle K Winternationals. Langdon is seeded fifth and will race the No. 4 seed, Doug Kalitta, in the opening round. Langdon won the Traxxas Nitro Shootout in 2013; he went on to win the U.S. Nationals later in the weekend and eventually won the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Championship. The fourth-year special event for Top Fuel and Funny Car teams awards $100,000 to the winning team in each category.
Langdon has a win, a runner-up, three semifinal appearances and two No. 1 qualifiers this season. He won the season-opening Circle K NHRA Winternationals Feb. 8 in Pomona, Calif., and advanced to the final round at Seattle. His Winternationals win made him the first Top Fuel driver to qualify for this weekend’s Traxxas Nitro Shootout.
Langdon made the quickest pass in NHRA history in Brainerd, Minn., during the second round of eliminations on Aug. 23, but it is not the national record. He was unable to “back up” his quick run with another within one percent of 3.662 seconds in the same race weekend to certify the run as the NHRA national record as required by NHRA rules. Therefore, Langdon owns the quickest pass ever but not the national record. Coincidentally, Langdon also owns the fastest run ever, 334.15 mph, but not the speed record because he did not make another within one percent of that speed during the same race weekend as NHRA rules require.
Langdon prior to Indianapolis:
“For me, the U.S. Nationals is the most exciting time of the year. It’s neat to go to Indy and race the Traxxas Shootout and the U.S. Nationals both for $100,000. There’s a lot of money on the line and a little bit of pressure with points and a half on the line this weekend. It’s a great time of the year; it’s always exciting to be getting ready for the Countdown (Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs), and it’s nice to have more on the line; we’re not just racing for points this weekend.
“The Traxxas Shootout will be tough. It’s an eight-car shootout with the best of the best in Top Fuel so there won’t be any easy rounds. First round, we’ll race Doug Kalitta, and that’s a tough draw. He’s had a good year; he had a good year last year as well. They run strong at Indy, and having a second car with J.R. (Todd), they won’t miss a beat. The Traxxas Shootout is definitely a lot of fun, but it’s a lot of pressure, too.
“The U.S. Nationals is a great race, and everyone obviously wants to perform well in it every year. It’s the biggest race we have, and all the NHRA Drag Racing legends raced at Indy. Winning the U.S. Nationals is a big deal; we were fortunate enough to win it two years ago so I got a little taste of what it’s like to win the U.S. Nationals, and I’m hungry for more.
“In points, if we have a good weekend, we could move up to fifth place entering the Countdown. If we can get around Doug and get into fifth, that will put us 10 points closer to the points lead so that would be big. That would definitely help when we start the Countdown and could pay off towards the end. That’s our goal; we would only be a couple of rounds out of first place going into Charlotte, and with all the Knuckle Sandwich Toyota team has been through this season, that would be great.
“If you look at the results from different teams this year, it’s been an interesting season. Richie (Crampton) has won four races, but he DNQed at one and is third in points. Larry (Dixon) is fourth in points; he’s been to a bunch of final rounds but hasn’t won a race yet. Antron (Brown) and Tony (Schumacher) have won quite a bit, but most of the teams in the top 10 have won a race or two and had some success but also had some struggles. We’ve all gone through it so there really hasn’t been one car that has just dominated the season. Some have done better than others, but I think the Countdown will be a shootout all the way through Pomona.
“On the sponsorship front, we’re doing the best we can. We are staying focused on getting the Knuckle Sandwich Toyota dragster back to performing the way it did early in the season. We’re hoping some sponsorship comes along so we can compete in the Countdown and make a run at the Mello Yello championship. We definitely feel like we have a championship-contending car and that we can be there fighting until the end. It’s difficult not knowing what the future holds, but we can only do so much. We’ll keep working hard; if can we get our Toyota team back in the winner’ circle, we hope the rest will take care of itself.”
