Halfway through the NHRA's regular season, billed the Countdown to 10, rookie Top Fuel driver Shawn
Langdon has distinguished himself as a killer on the starting line and a legitimate race day
threat.
"He's one of the best young drivers I've seen in a long time," veteran racer Cory McClenathan said.
"I'm just hoping I can steal away a few more wins and maybe a championship before guys like Shawn
take this sport over for good."
That's high praise for the 26-year-old driver of the Lucas Oil/Dixie Choppers dragster. After all,
McClenathan has been plying his trade for many years now and is one of the most successful drag
racers in history.
"It's humbling to hear guys like Cory say things like that," Langdon said. "That guy has been one
of my heroes since I was racing Junior Dragsters as a little boy. The fact I even get to line up
next to him in a Top Fuel race is an honor. Some times I have to pinch myself to make sure this
isn't all a dream."
Many of Langdon's competitors probably wish it was a dream. With four semifinal appearances in the
last five events and an encouraging 11-9 race day record thus far, Langdon is a win waiting to
happen. His initial goal of making the Countdown to 1 field in early September is looking more and
more realistic as the races click by and there are whispers that he's becoming a bit of a darkhorse
for a championship run.
"I'm not looking any farther than this weekend's race in Chicago," said Langdon, the back-to-back
world champion in Super Comp. "I'm still learning stuff every pass and my focus remains on not
making any mistakes when I'm in the car. John Stewart, my crew chief, and the guys on this Lucas
Oil team have been so cool to me. They've been a huge help and having a teammate like Morgan Lucas
20 feet away, for someone to talk to about anything at all, has been huge. I'm a lucky guy."
Langdon and Lucas are tied for sixth in the Full Throttle points heading into this weekend's 12th
annual United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway. Another solid showing could
lift either of them into the top five.
"I'm the new guy on the team," Langdon said. "The rest of these guys have won before and they all
know what they're doing. Every week I climb into that dragster knowing I have a car that can win
the race. That's all a driver can ask for. It's a great feeling. I want to pay these guys back in
the worse way possible and the easiest way to do that is to win them a race."
