Toyota NHRA New England Nationals Preview
LANGDON LOOMING LARGE – For much of the 2014 season, reigning Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon had been somewhat 
overlooked…Antron Brown’s three wins, victories by all three Schumacher drivers and a win by rookie Richie Crampton in just his ninth race seemed to steal the headlines. Even inside the Al-Anabi Racing Toyota team, Khalid alBalooshi opened the season by grabbing the headlines in winning the prestigious Winternationals.
Conversely, through four races, Langdon hadn’t advanced past the second round and was sitting seventh in points. Well, don’t look now, but last year’s world champion has shown he has no intention of relinquishing his title quietly. Coming off a victory at Bristol this past weekend, Langdon has a win, two final round appearances and two semi-finals in the last six races and has climbed into third place, just 31 points behind second-place Brown.
Shawn Langdon: “With the stiff competition in Top Fuel, one thing you have to learn is patience, and you can’t take anything for granted. Having a great season like we had last year, obviously we took a lot of pride in that. We knew it would be tough. We weren’t expecting it to take this long to get our first victory, but we’re still learning and trying to improve this Al-Anabi car.”
BROWN CLOSES IN ON ‘500’ MILESTONE – Antron Brown can become the 15th driver in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series history to earn 500 round wins with an event victory in Epping this weekend. Brown enters the weekend with 496 round wins in his career and a 20-7 round record this season. Over the last 39 Top Fuel races, he’s won nine races, the highest by any Top Fuel driver.
PEDREGON ON THE RISE – Tony Pedregon’s semi-final appearance in Bristol this past weekend was his first since St. Louis in 2012. The two-time Funny Car champion has earned at least one round win in three of the last six races, despite running without a title sponsor.
