LANGDON WINS ALL-TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINAL AT WINTERNATIONALS

POMONA, CA – Shawn Langdon defeated Antron Brown in an all-Toyota Top Fuel final to cap off a dominating weekend in winning the Circle K NHRA Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Sunday.

Langdon registered the quickest pass in five of the seven rounds run this weekend, including the quickest pass in NHRA history with a 3.700 in qualifying on Saturday. In today’s eliminations, he defeated Steve Chrisman, Leah Pritchett and Spencer Massey before matching up with fellow Toyota driver Brown in the finals. The victory was his second Winternationals crown in the last three years. It also marked the 11th time a Toyota Top Fuel team has won in the last 12 races at the Auto Club Raceway and was Toyota’s 107th win in NHRA competition.

“I don’t even know where to begin,” said Langdon, who grew up in nearby Mira Loma. “Talk about ups and downs over the last month. Our team never stopped working at the shop. We needed to come out here and make a statement. What better way to do that than run the quickest pass in NHRA history, earn the number one qualifier and then win the race.”

Brown fell just short of earning his third Pomona win by defeating Tony Schumacher, Doug Kalitta and Larry Dixon on the way to the finals. His 3.732 run in his opening round victory was the quickest of the day. Richie Crampton, the 2014 Rookie of the Year, advanced to the second round.

In Funny Car, Del Worsham led the way for Toyota by advancing to today’s semi-finals. Worsham’s DHL Camry registered five runs of 4.08 or better on the weekend in six passes down the track. He defeated Chad Head and Courtney Force in the first two rounds before narrowly falling to eventual winner Matt Hagan in the semi-finals.
Cruz Pedregon, Tony Pedregon, Head and Alexis DeJoria all lost in the opening round today in Funny Car.
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series resumes with the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in Phoenix, Feb. 20-22.