Langdon, Beckman win NHRA Midwest titles near St. Louis as DSR dominates by putting four teams in final rounds

ST. LOUIS – The racetrack at Gateway Motorsports Park on Sunday was a sizzling, sole-melting 120 degrees for most of the afternoon.

The only thing hotter during the final day of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event near St. Louis was Don Schumacher Racing, which left with both nitro titles in the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals after filling all four spots in the championship rounds.

In the final rounds, Shawn Langdon (Sandvik Coromant/Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher) with crew chief Phil Shuler won on a holeshot over Tony Schumacher (U.S. Army) to take the Top Fuel title after Jack Beckman (Infinite Hero Dodge Charger R/T) beat Tommy Johnson Jr. (Make-A-Wish).

“All in all, just a great team effort. We had a couple little struggles today – warming the car up before the semis, and then we had an ignition issue, but they gave me a great racecar and if I could keep it straight I felt good about my chances.”

DSR also was able to leave with both nitro points leads with Antron Brown and the Matco Tools/U.S. Army team holding the top spot in Top Fuel and Ron Capps with the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T continuing to lead Funny Car with his Dodge Charger R/T.

Johnson moved up to second in points with his second straight final round and trails Capps by 48. Beckman made a monumental jump from eighth to third and is 70 behind Capps after the second of six events in the Countdown to the Championship playoff.

Among DSR’s accomplishments Sunday include:

DSR recorded its12th Top Fuel and ninth Funny Car event titles of 2016 for a total of 21, and now owns 288 NHRA Wally trophies;

The fifth time since 2011 that DSR filled all four spots in nitro finals, and its eight teams collectively finished with a eliminations record of 18-6 with five of those losses being to a teammate;

And the seventh time in 2016 and 59th since 2003 that DSR has won multiple titles at the same event;

Terry Chandler was certain to have a winner on Sunday. She funds both the Infinite Hero and Make-A-Wish teams and having both in the final round was an early present for her birthday next week.

“When you look back at all your wins, you never look back and say, ‘Well that one wasn’t fun.’ Every one of them is special for one reason or another,” Beckman said. “This one will go down as, our team is in a slump and we did what was incredible difficult with the way our car was acting unpredictably.”

In the Countdown scheme for Funny Cars, the quarterfinals could have been crucial for DSR Capps, Johnson and Beckman each eliminated a member of John Force Racing.

The most disappointing aspect of Sunday’s racing was the end of Brown’s winning streak at Gateway. He arrived at the track riding a streak of four consecutive event titles but that was ended by Langdon in the opening round.

Also in Top Fuel, Leah Pritchett in the Papa John’s Pizza dragster advanced to the quarterfinals for the second straight week and fell one spot in the standings to ninth but trimmed her deficit to 151 behind Brown.

Langdon’s third win of the season marks the first time DSR dragster won a title with primary sponsorship from Sandvik Coromant.

The third Countdown event in three weeks begins Friday near Reading, Pa., with the Dodge Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway.