Despite a less-than-spectacular showing at New England Dragway last weekend, Shawn Langdon is second in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings and eager to get back on track this weekend. The 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues June 6-8 at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.
Langdon’s Kalitta Air Careers team enters the season’s eighth race with wins in Phoenix and Charlotte as well as three wins in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge having won the Saturday event in Phoenix, Pomona, Calif., and Chicago. He was the No. 6 qualifier last weekend but lost to Dan Mercier in the first round when the Kalitta Air Careers car smoked the tires almost immediately after the run began. Still, Langdon and team will roll into Thunder Valley knowing they have one of the top teams in the class capable of clicking off round wins and race wins.
“It’s a good feeling,” Langdon said. “A couple of years ago, we struggled. So to come back, with (Team Owner) Connie Kalitta leading the way and giving us all the resources, (General Manager) Chad Head doing a lot of homework and putting a great team together, feels really good. We really feel like, from top to bottom, we have one of the best teams out there. We feel very competitive at every track we go to, and that’s obviously a great feeling to have as a driver. You couldn’t ask for anything more – to be a part of a great team with a great race car.
“Bristol Dragway is one of the most beautiful, scenic racetracks on tour. It’s a great area. I love going there, and the track can be really good. With the cooler temperatures, we don’t have to navigate the bumps so much. The hotter it gets, the more you see the bumps on the track, but big props to Thunder Valley for addressing the bumps and doing the best they can trying to alleviate it to give the fans the best possible race. A lot of it is temperature dependent with the elevation; a lot of times in the Friday-night session, you can go really fast there.”
The two-time Thunder Valley winner enters this weekend’s race hoping to rebound and return to the form that put him near the top of the point standings. Langdon and his teammate, Doug Kalitta, are undefeated in the Top Fuel portion of the Mission Foods Challenge, and those competitive Saturday rounds definitely help on race day.
“A lot of the runs on Saturday are typically comparable to runs on Sunday running in the afternoon with a little bit more heat,” Langdon added. “Sometimes, you’re on the good side of the wave. Sometimes you’re on the wrong end of it, but this year, both cars have been really good. The guys have been doing a great job so having a great Saturday gives you a lot of confidence into going into Sunday.”
This story was originally published on June 4, 2025.
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