NHRA Drag Racing

Langdon sets sights on season title in Pomona – Daily Bulletin

by
Scoops
November 12, 2026

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Top Fuel driver Shawn Langdon drives through the shutdown area during the second round of pro qualifying on the opening day the 66th annual NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona on Friday, April 10, 2026. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

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There’s going fast and then there’s 347 miles per hour.

The moment Shawn Langdon mashes the throttle, five Gs of force slam him back against the headrest. The front tires of his 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster lift, the rear slicks wrinkle and bite, and the track turns into a violently shaking tunnel.

Inside the cockpit, there is no time to think. Langdon can only feel the not-so-subtle tug of the front tires shaking through the steering wheel. His split-second shift of the clutch halfway down the track supplies a blinding rush as the horizon collapses.

“That’s the really cool part,” Langdon said.

At this weekend’s National Hot Rod Association Finals at the Fairplex in Pomona, covering 1,000 feet in less than 4 seconds and doing it faster than anyone else is the goal.

A KID FROM MIRA LOMA

Langdon grew up playing baseball and idolizing the larger-than-life heroes of the Southern California drag strips his father, Chad, frequented.

“My dad would race out there from time to time, but I was always really intrigued by the top fuel cars – just how loud they were and how fast they were – and so I’d always find myself navigating to the stands to watch the pros run, and then I’d go to the pits and collect all the autographs,” he said.

He turned his bedroom wall into a shrine of driver autographs and famously staged living-room tournaments with a hundred Hot Wheels cars, obsessed with the precision and math behind winning.

The No. 2 starting pitcher for the Jurupa Valley High baseball team his senior year, Langdon looks back and says that career may have peaked earlier than he thought.

“I played Little League and travel ball and was always one of the better players, but as we got a little older, players just kept getting bigger,” he said with a laugh. “I was holding my own, but by the middle of my senior year my shoulder was pretty shot.”

With his dad as his crew chief and lead mechanic, Langdon’s other obsession became a pathway for success after he had captured a Junior Dragster national title at just 14 years old.

“My dad, he kind of did it all,” Langdon said. “He was the one flipping through the Auto Trader and was like, ‘Hey, there’s a junior dragster for sale.’ And it’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s go. Let’s do it.’”

SHIFTING HARD

Nearing graduation from Jurupa Valley in 2000, Langdon looked around at his options and saw only one.

An offer from a San Bernardino-based businessman to build a dragster and create a racing team in exchange for a job working with drywall seemed perfect.

“We had met a guy, his name was Jack Brand, and he owned a drywall company in Highland (and) he was looking to buy a Super Car to compete in NHRA,” Langdon said. “He asked us, ‘Would you guys be interested in racing the car?’

“He said, ‘I’ll make you a deal. When you graduate, when you’re done with high school, come to my office and I’ll put you to work. So that was really where it worked out as my first job,” Langdon said.

That team eventually claimed consecutive NHRA Super Comp championships in 2007 and ’08 before Langdon finally stepped into the Top Fuel ranks in ’09.

“It was the way my life had led me at that point,” he said. “I just tried to take advantage of opportunities when they’re presented and it’s kind of how I’ve lived my whole life. Get a job and get to go racing on the weekends? That’s pretty cool.”

The circuit’s fastest class, Top Fuel is the playground of legends Don Prudhomme, Joe Amato and Kenny Bernstein, and by 2013 Langdon stood atop the drag racing world, clinching his first NHRA Top Fuel championship in a dominant season finale at Pomona.

In a sport where true greatness is measured by longevity and adaptation, Langdon evolved into one of the sport’s most versatile racers over the next decade-plus, stepping outside his comfort zone to pilot a Funny Car for Kalitta Motorsports and win two national events before returning to Top Fuel.

TO THE FINISH LINE

Currently paired with veteran crew chief Brian Husen for Kalitta Air Careers, Langdon has been peaking as he enters his mid-40s.

Last season, he etched his name into the history books by winning the 1,000th Top Fuel race in NHRA history at Charlotte, while finishing second in the championship standings behind teammate Doug Kalitta to secure the team’s one-two season sweep.

“I’m very fortunate to be in the situation that I’m in and to race for this team,” Langdon said. “We really only have one goal in mind.”

This season, Langdon has unleashed a historic campaign, shattering the sport’s speed barrier while rocketing an astonishing 346.95 mph in Michigan on Sept. 20 to set the NHRA national speed record and claim ownership of the four fastest passes in drag racing history.

“There’s two ways to look at it,” he said. “Anytime you can stamp your name in the record book, it reminds you of being that kid with that dream, but then the competitive side of it is, like, that’s our goal.”

He has won eight races this season – including his third Top Fuel title at the prestigious U.S. Nationals in early September – and has surged to the top of the points standings heading into the final weekend in Pomona.

“All these things are nice, but at the end of the day you want the championship,” he said. “We have to go out there under the bright lights and stay focused and get the job done.”