Shawn Langdon and his Kalitta Motorsports team know their mission is simple this weekend in the NHRA Top Fuel championship fight: win to take it all.
“You feel like you’ve got your back up against the wall,” Langdon said this week ahead of the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona, “and now we’ve left ourselves with only one option and that’s we’ve got to win.”
But it didn’t have to be that way and that’s what makes it hurt.
Langdon, who sent point leader Justin Ashley home in the second round, was on a run in the Las Vegas event (Nov. 3) that would have sent him to the finals. But the dragster pulled to the left and crossed the center line, taking out the timing blocks. If the disqualification wasn’t bad enough, which handed the win to teammate Doug Kalitta, there was also a massive left-rear tire blowout.
It was a wild ride for @ShawnLangdon333 in a huge semifinal run against teammate Doug Kalitta at the @FordPerformance #VegasNats! pic.twitter.com/tSqHnwG84X
— NHRA (@NHRA) November 4, 2024
The car and Langdon’s team headed to Precision Built Race Cars for repairs. Langdon, meanwhile, tried to come to terms with what happened.
It started with an emotion filled television interview for Fox Sports where Langdon noted he had never before hit anything in his career, was dejected for his team, and felt he gave one away. At the same time, he also expressed the championship ability of his team and hoped he wasn’t going to be the cause of it not happening.