Langdon Takes Arizona, Second Win in ’24

Shawn Langdon holding his Wally after winning the Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park (Photo: NHRA Media)

CHANDLER, Ariz. — The final eliminations for the Arizona Nationals being held at Firebird Motorsports Park started off with a bang for the Top Fuel dragsters.

FINALS ROUND 1:

The first match-up of round one was between Krista Baldwin and Billy Torrence. Both drivers smoked their tires at the start, but Baldwin got held up at the line first, allowing Torrence to get the win.

Jasmine Salinas and Shawn Reed were up next. The curse of smoking tires continued as that was exactly what Salinas did. Although she lost the round, she managed to pull off a reaction time of .146, an elapsed time of 6.880 seconds and a final speed of 83.16. Reed had a much faster reaction time of .122, an elapsed time of 3.791 seconds and a final speed of 324.36.

The third pair of Round 1 was the exact same duo as the final round in the Winternationals. Justin Ashley and Tony Schumacher found each other next to them at the line. Following the last race those two competed in, Ashley won on a hole-shot win. Schumacher had a reaction time of .067, an elapsed time of 3.791 seconds, which was better than Ashley’s, and a final speed of 325.69. Ashley had a reaction time of .039, which was better than Schumacher’s and what got him the win, an elapsed time of 3.804 seconds and a final speed of 328.22.

Brittany Force and Tony Stewart went head-to-head next. For the first time in his career, Stewart advanced to the next round with a win. Granted, Force smoked her tires and Stewart pedaled his way down the track, but it was still a win in the book for Stewart.

The next match-up saw Terry Totten and Doug Kalitta take to the track. Following the theme of the weekend with hole-shot wins, Kalitta took the round by doing just that. Kalitta had the better reaction time of .092 while Totten had .419. Totten had the better elapsed time and final speed though, with 3.978 seconds and 285.53. Kalitta only had 3.993 seconds and 247.25.

Travis Shumake and Steve Torrence found themselves next to each other for the next round. Torrence won the round with a reaction time of .073, an elapsed time of 3.829 seconds and a final speed of 327.90. Shumake had .129, 4.504 seconds and 191.73, respectively.

Veterans of the class, Antron Brown and Clay Millican, took to the strip next. Millican dropped a cylinder, resulting in a win for Brown.

The last match-up of the first round of eliminations was one for the history books. Both Shawn Langdon and Josh Hart red-lighted, but it was Hart who ended up getting disqualified. Hart started off the line way too early and Langdon saw that and mashed his throttle as well, thinking that it was time to go. Then, Langdon realized that it was not time to go and stopped his car. Because Hart went first and caused Langdon to red-light, he was the one to be disqualified, allowing Langdon to move on to the next round.

Shawn Langdon mashing down the throttle in the Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park (Photo: NHRA Media)

FINALS ROUND 2:

The first match-up of the second round of eliminations was between B. Torrence and Stewart. Once again, Stewart had a career best with winning the round and going on to be in his first semifinal. Torrence spun his tires, handing the win to Stewart.

The next two drivers on the track were S. Torrence and Reed. Torrence won the round with a reaction time of .088, an elapsed time of 3.835 seconds and a final speed of 322.04. Reed had a reaction time of .107, an elapsed time of 4.867 seconds and a final speed of 158.26.

Brown and Langdon faced each other next. Langdon won the match, sending the prior world champion home. 

The final race of the second round saw Kalitta and Ashley go head-to-head. Ashley won the round fair and square this time, instead of on a hole-shot.

SEMIFINALS:

Stewart and Ashley faced off in the first of two semifinal match-ups. Although Stewart continued his lucky streak of going down the track without any issues, he lost the match to Ashley because, well, Ashley was just plain faster.

The second match-up was between Torrence and Langdon. Once again, a hole-shot win came out of this round, as it seemed to be the theme of the weekend. This time though, Langdon took the cake.

FINAL:

It all came down to Ashley and Langdon in the final round. Although Ashley was faster down the strip overall, Langdon was named the winner due to his superior reaction and elapsed times. This was Langdon’s second win of the 2024 season.

“This whole Kalitta Air team is flawless,” said Langdon on his win, team and how he won. “First round we had a weird kind of hiccup but for the final we got a shot. Two out of three’s not bad, but we’re ready for more.”