Shawn Langdon; Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster

Shawn Langdon returns to the DHL / Kalitta Air Toyota Top Fuel dragster for the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season. Langdon’s 11,000 horsepower dragster will be tuned by drag racing legend Connie Kalitta, Kurt Elliott and Jason McCulloch. The 2013 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Top Fuel champion has 17 Top Fuel victories and two Funny Car wins to his credit in addition to 19 Top Fuel runner-up finishes. He has 19 No. 1 qualifiers and more than 300 round wins in his career.
In 2022, Langdon finished ninth in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Fuel point standings finishing in the top 10 for the 14th consecutive season – every year since reaching NHRA’s premier series. Langdon advanced to the final round of eliminations at both Bristol, Tenn., and Denver, Colo., narrowly missing two victories in 2022.
A standout baseball player in high school, Langdon chose a career in drag racing turning down multiple college baseball scholarship offers to pursue his drag racing dreams. He had already made a Motorsports name for himself, winning the NHRA Jr. Dragster National title at age 14 in 1997. Ten years later, he captured back-to-back NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Super Comp national titles in 2007 and ‘08 in the highly competitive sportsman ranks.
He made his NHRA professional debut in Top Fuel dragster in 2009 and was a finalist for the Auto Club’s Road to the Future NHRA Rookie of the Year Award. After joining Alan Johnson Racing in 2012, Langdon won his first Top Fuel national event at the fall Charlotte race that season.
The Mira Loma Calif., native enjoyed a historic run in 2013 winning seven races, including the historic NHRA U.S. Nationals, on the way to his first NHRA Top Fuel world championship. Langdon appeared in 10 final rounds and qualified No. 1 seven times that season. He also won the $100,000 Traxxas Shootout and became the first NHRA competitor to win at every level of the sport.
After Alan Johnson Racing, Langdon drove for Schumacher Racing until joining Team Kalitta prior to the 2017 season. He raced a Toyota Camry Funny Car for Kalitta Motorsports in 2018 and ’19 and collected two wins making him just the 17th NHRA racer to reach the winner’s circle in both the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories. In 2020, Langdon returned to Top Fuel.
Shawn Langdon Quick Facts:
Residence: Danville, Ind.
Hometown: Mira Loma, Calif.
Date of birth: Sept. 3, 1982
Career Race Wins (through 2022): 17
Career No. 1 qualifiers (through 2022): 19
Career Rounds Raced Won-Lost (through 2022): 332-288 (.540)
Best points finish: 1 (2013)
First start: Pomona1, 2009
Personal Information:
Marital Status: Single
Children: None
Height/weight: 5’10”, 190 lbs.
Hobbies: Bracket Racing, baseball, golf and bowling
Notable: Four-time NHRA series champion joined Kalitta Motorsports for the 2017 season; won 2013 NHRA Camping World Top Fuel World Championship as well as 2007 and ’08 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Super Comp championship; won 2005 and ’06 Super Comp title at JEG’s All Stars; won 1997 NHRA Junior Dragster championship in 14-under division; has competed in Top Fuel, Top Alcohol Dragster, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator and Junior Dragster.