Shawn Langdon, DHL Top Fuel Dragster Four Wide Race Report

Las Vegas, NV – Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 6 qualifier at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. The best qualifying effort for the DHL Toyota Top Fuel team was a 3.754-second effort at 325.24 mph.

Eliminations: Langdon defeated Krista Baldwin and Clay Millican to advance to the second round of eliminations along with Mike Salinas. In the second round, the four-wide semifinals, Langdon raced Salinas, Steve Torrence and Josh Hart. As the four drivers were staging for the run, Langdon and Hart were the last to stage with Langdon going in last. Unfortunately, Langdon staged more than seven seconds after the first driver staged which caused him to be eliminated before the run began.

Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Las Vegas in seventh place in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails sixth-place Leah Pruett by 18 points and leads eighth-place Austin Prock by three points.

Langdon on Las Vegas: “We were timed out today which is unfortunate because we had a really good race car, a car that was capable of winning on a hot track. We have a good setup for that, but I didn’t stage quick enough. As I’ve been saying all season, our DHL car is running really well – we have a top-five car, and the guys are making the right calls on the tune-up. I really appreciate all the hard work the guys are putting in, and I know it will pay off.

“The bottom line today was that Josh Hart hangs everybody out; the whole class has been talking about it. I decided to take a stand at the four-wides which was the wrong decision because Steve Torrence and Mike Salinas were innocent in the matter. At the end of the day, we can’t have a guy like that come into the sport and dictate the staging procedures because he stages slow. Everyone has a right to do whatever they want; you have seven seconds to stage. I made the mistake of not getting in within the seven seconds today, and it cost us a chance to win the race. I expect we’ll see a lot more drivers taking a stand against Josh Hart because he hangs everybody out, and quite frankly, everybody’s tired of it. I took a stand at the wrong time. DHL deserves better, our race team deserves better, and I messed up. We’ll be ready to go at Charlotte in two weeks.”