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Shawn Langdon and CMR Construction and Roofing Battle in Las Vegas
Racing the CMR Construction and Roofing Top Fuel dragster Shawn Langdon entered race day at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals as the No. 12 qualifier after two days at the track. The 2013 Top Fuel champion was looking to race to his first win at the fall classic from Bruton Smith’s The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
In the first round facing fellow Countdown competitor Billy Torrence Langdon was looking for a long race day at the next two last race of the season. In an impressive display of driving skill Langdon jumped off the starting line with a .049 second reaction time giving his CMR Construction and Roofing a solid lead for most of the race. As both 11,000 horsepower dragsters flew to the finish line Langdon’s opponent got around him by. 0001 of a second in the closest race of the event. It was a photo finish that ended Langdon’s bid for victory.
Langdon’s first round elapsed time was an improvement from his qualifying time but not enough to advance to the quarterfinals. With one race remaining in the season Langdon and the CMR Construction and Roofing team will revert to their traditional DHL Kalitta Air look for the NHRA Finals in Pomona.
“That was a really close race for the CMR Construction and Roofing dragster,” said Langdon. “We have had a good race with the CMR team, and I was looking to have a long race day but it just didn’t work out. I thought we had the win, but it just didn’t work out.”
Statistics:
Qualified: No. 12 (3.780 sec, 325.22 mph)
Bonus points: 0
Race Details:
First Round
Driver Qual R/T ET MPH
Shawn Langdon 12 .049 3.781 312.21
Billy Torrence 5 .092 3.738 325.53 (W
Strong Effort Not Enough at Las Vegas Nationals for Doug Kalitta
Doug Kalitta and the red and white Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster were racing for their third win at the NHRA Las Vegas National today from The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. For twenty seasons Mac Tools and Kalitta have been racing and winning and today the veteran driver was looking for his 50th career Top Fuel victory.
After three qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday Kalitta rolled into race day as the No. 13 qualifier in a tight Top Fuel field. The perennial championship contender was facing another Countdown qualified Top Fuel dragster driven by Bristol winner and eventual Las Vegas Nationals runner-up Mike Salinas.
In the opening session Kalitta launched off the starting line side by side with Salinas and both racecars were welded together as they accelerated down track. As the finish line approached Kalitta’s 11,000 horsepower Mac Tools machine was hitting on all eight cylinders. At the stripe it was Salinas getting the win light with a slightly quicker 3.726 second pass against Kalitta’s 3.735 second run.
Kalitta’s first round run was a stronger run than his qualifying effort and showed his Mac Tools team made the appropriate adjustments to give the veteran a chance on race day. Heading to the final race of the season Kalitta will be racing to advance his position in the NHRA Top Ten and finish the season on a high note.
“We stepped up in the first round but came up a little short,” said Kalitta. “We have one more race this year, and we will be focusing on getting that last win of the season.”
Statistics:
Qualified: No. 13 (3.797 sec, 295.34 mph)
Bonus points: 0
Race Details:
First Round
Driver Qual R/T ET MPH
Doug Kalitta 13 .072 3.735 323.43
Mike Salinas 4 .058 3.726 323.97 (W)
Championship Will Come Down to Pomona for J.R. Todd and DHL Toyota Funny Car
The DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car and driver J.R. Todd are in the middle of the 2021 NHRA Funny Car battle and today’s Las Vegas Nationals was a chance for the 2018 Funny Car world champion to close the gap from the No. 3 position in the points. In a wild first round Todd was upset along with the drivers sitting in the No. 1 and No.4 positions. Heading to the final race of the season Todd will have an outside shot at the championship.
During the two days of qualifying from The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Todd posted solid runs including a stellar 3.905 second pass at 327.03 mph which was the quickest run of the second session, good enough for three bonus points, and the No. 3 qualifier position. Todd also posted the third quickest run of the first session to show that his performance levels were top of the category.
On race day Todd drew veteran Paul Lee in the first round with lane choice and confidence on the heels of his final round appearance from the Thunder Valley Nationals two weeks ago. When Todd hit the throttle his DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car, he was side by side with his opponent. As the finish line closed in Todd’s Goodyear tires surprisingly lost traction and slowed his momentum allowing Lee to dart around him at the finish line for an upset win.
“We have been making great runs for the past two races so that was a surprise,” said Todd. “We got hurt a little in the points but it will make Pomona very interesting. We made up a lot of ground in Bristol and I was looking to do the same thing today. I know we are going to look at what happened and get ready for the last race of the season.”
Statistics:
Qualified: No. 3 (3.905 sec, 327.03 mph
Bonus points: +4 (3rd quickest of Q1, Quickest of Q2)
Race Details:
First Round
Driver Qual R/T ET MPH
J. R. Todd 3 .076 4.960 155.76
Paul Lee 14 .005 3.921 328.94 (W)