LANGDON, KALITTA AIR CAREERS TEAM NOT GIVING UP

YPSILANTI, MI – Shawn Langdon’s Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team is running better but not yet well enough to challenge for a championship making this weekend’s third of six playoff races a pivotal event. The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series resumes this weekend at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in Madison, Ill., the third of six races that make up the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs.

Langdon’s season has not lived up to expectations, but a recent uptick in performance is reason for optimism. The Kalitta Air Careers team made six consistent runs in Reading, Pa., two weeks ago and appeared ready to step up its performance. With a second-consecutive quarterfinal appearance last weekend in Charlotte, Langdon, who has two wins in three St. Louis final rounds, did move up to 10th in points, but if the team is to have any shot at contending, a strong performance this weekend reaching deep into the eliminations ladder is vital.

“We go into St. Louis with the same game plan we had for Charlotte – try to get our Kalitta Air Careers car running as well as it can so we can continue getting better,” Langdon said. “We made six really good runs in Reading, but we weren’t able to keep that going in Charlotte (last weekend) so we’ll give it another shot this weekend. Mathematically, we can still win a championship, but realistically, it’s a long shot. We’d probably need to win at least two of the four races we have left so our goal is to continue improving our performance and hope we can keep moving up in points. St. Louis has a nice race track, and the weather looks good so we’ll go in there and keep working as hard as we can to keep getting better for Kalitta Air, Revchem, Toyota, Future Energy Solutions and everyone else who supports our team.”

2022 NHRA Midwest Nationals Recap: Qualified No. 3; defeated Kyle Wurtzel and Tony Schumacher before losing to Josh Hart in the semifinals.

Shawn Langdon Career Stats: 326 events, 345 round wins, 17 wins, 38 final rounds, 19 No. 1 qualifiers

2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Results To Date:

Gainesville: Qualified 11th and lost to Antron Brown by two 10 thousandths of a second.

Phoenix: Qualified No. 8; defeated Antron Brown, Doug Kalitta and Leah Pruett; lost to Justin Ashley

Pomona: Qualified No. 7; defeated Tony Schumacher, lost to Brittany Force.

Las Vegas: Qualified No. 6; defeated Krista Baldwin and Clay Millican before losing to Steve Torrence and

Josh Hart in the semifinals.

Charlotte: Qualified 11th, lost to Leah Pritchett and Pat Dakin in the first round.

Chicago: Qualified No. 6; lost to Clay Millican in the first round.

Epping: Qualified No. 2; lost to Tony Schumacher in the first round.

Bristol: Qualified 14th; lost to Steve Torrence.

Norwalk: Qualified 14th; lost to Brittany Force.

Denver: Qualified No. 9; defeated Greg Carrillo and Rob Passey before losing to Clay Millican in the

semifinals.

Seattle: Qualified No. 8; defeated Antron Brown and Mike Salinas before losing to Steve Torrence by .0609 seconds in the semifinals.

Sonoma: Qualified No. 5; defeated Leah Pruett before losing to Josh Hart in the second round.

Topeka: Qualified No. 9; lost to Brittany Force in the first round.

Brainerd: Qualified No. 9; lost to Antron Brown in the first round.

Indianapolis: Qualified No. 9; defeated Josh Hart before losing to Steve Torrence in the second round.

Reading: Qualified No. 6; defeated Dan Mercier before losing to race winner Doug Kalitta in the second round.

Charlotte: Qualified No. 9; defeated Tony Schumacher before losing to Doug Kalitta in the second round.

Point Standings: Langdon enters St. Louis in ninth place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails eighth-place Austin Prock by 29 points and leads 10th-place Tony Schumacher by 12 points.

photos courtesy of NHRA