Shawn Langdon, Kalitta Air Careers Top Fuel Dragster

2025 Lucas Oil Winternationals Recap: Qualified No. 3; defeated Ida Zetterstrom and Josh Hart; lost to Tony Stewart.

Shawn Langdon Career Stats: 371 events, 23 wins, 29 runners-up, 418 round wins, 23 No. 1 qualifiers.

Current Points Position: 3

Pre-Race Notes:

  • Shawn Langdon qualified No. 1 and won his third-straight NHRA Arizona Nationals near Phoenix three weeks ago. It was his 23rd win and his 23rd No. 1 qualifier. Langdon is approaching the NHRA mark for consecutive wins at the same event; four drivers won four straight at five different NHRA National Events.
  • When Langdon advanced to the semifinals in Phoenix, he earned a spot in this week’s Mission Foods Challenge. During Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the semifinals at the last race will re-run the semifinals and final earning additional purse and championship bonus points. Langdon won the Mission Foods Challenge five times last season including the Winternationals.
  • Prior to Saturday’s third qualifying session, Langdon will be recognized as one of NHRA’s top-75 drivers. In recognition of NHRA’s 75th anniversary season in 2026, NHRA added 25 drivers to its existing list of top-50 drivers, and Langdon was one of the additional 25 drivers.
  • Langdon has four wins in seven final-round appearances at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip including season sweeps in 2013 and ’15. He has two No. 1 qualifiers at the Pomona, Calif., racetrack, which is less than 30 miles from his hometown, Mira Loma, Calif.
  • Langdon is the 2013 NHRA Top Fuel Champion.

Pre-Race Quotes:

“We have a lot of confidence going into Pomona, and we have a lot of confidence about this season. I’ve been fortunate to have some success at Pomona; it’s my home track, and I always look forward to racing there. We’re motivated to win races, and winning at Pomona is always special. Connie (Team Owner Connie Kalitta) gives us everything we need to race for a championship, and that’s what we want to do this season.

“A main focus for us this year is making good runs when it’s hot and having a car that will let us gain the small bonus points in qualifying. By the end of the year, you can make up a couple of rounds (of racing in points) by qualifying well and getting bonus points throughout the season. That’s a big focus for us, and being able to race in Phoenix under some of the hottest conditions we’ve ever seen, we stuck to the game plan. With the heat, it wasn’t ideal, but we all dealt with it. Conditions will be very different this weekend, but we’re up to the challenge.

“The Kalitta Air Careers team is so good. When I’m inside the race car, I demand perfection of myself; this is what I love to do and what I dream of doing. The thing I love about Brian (Crew Chief Brian Husen) is that he demands perfection from himself, he demands perfection from the team. I think a lot of the guys on our team are taking that same approach.

“We have a fantastic group, and they just don’t make mistakes. They work well together, they double check each other even triple each other. We have a car that we feel, every time we go to the line, is one of the fastest, one of the safest on property, it gives you all the confidence in the world.

“Being on NHRA’s top-75 drivers list is kinda weird for me; it’s humbling, and I appreciate it. Good on NHRA for recognizing the drivers and a lot of the history of the sport because that’s what got us all into it. When I was a kid, I watched all those guys. A lot of those people I looked up to as a kid and got autographs from as a kid are heroes of mine.

Langdon Photo Courtesy: Kalitta Motorsports

For Shawn Langdon’s 2026 race-by-race results, please click here.

The post Shawn Langdon Wants Fifth Pomona Win first appeared on Team Kalitta Motorsports.

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