By Jerry Jordan, Editor

Leading the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series points standings and fresh off the fastest pass in Top Fuel history, Shawn Langdon is rolling into a track where he has yet to visit Victory Lane in his premier class career. But if the veteran driver and his Kalitta Motorsports team have shown anything this season, it’s that momentum and mindset matter more than past results.

Langdon sat down for a video podcast ahead of this weekend’s action and took the conversation further than just speed records or rivalries. He also explained that most of the drivers have a deep respect for the sport and each other, in fact, that camaraderie is likely what makes the NHRA feel different from just about any other form of motorsports.

Langdon made history on Friday, May 1, at South Georgia Motorsports Park during NHRA’s debut there, blistering the quarter-mile with a 3.724-second pass at an insane 345.00 mph in his Kalitta Air dragster. That shattered the previous speed record of 343.51 mph set by Brittany Force.

“It was kinda wild early on, obviously it was a pretty big feat and a pretty big milestone,” Langdon told me. “Got a lot of attention early, but I think the last couple days … I’ve just been going bracket racing, so I kind of been doing my own thing. But yeah, the fans were pumped about it. Especially the ones that were there.”

But Langdon wasn’t aware of what he had done. For some reason, he couldn’t see the scoring pylon in Georgia.

“I had no idea till I turned off the track and I saw everyone kinda standing around, everyone was kinda snickering and smiling,” Langdan recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, okay, well, maybe you’re number one.’ I was thinking more of the ET (elapsed time) and I wasn’t really thinking about the mile an hour.”

He added that when he looked at the time slip handed to racers at the end of the dragstrip, he confirmed it and thought, “Oh, shit, okay.” The run also helped quiet any lingering doubters from impressive testing passes earlier in the year.

“Luckily, we were able to back it up,” he said of his previous fast passes that weren’t in a race.

Heading into Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Il. – a venue where Langdon has won in Sportsman classes and claimed JEGS All-Star titles but never a Top Fuel win – the points leader isn’t feeling extra pressure. He’s said he is simply focused on execution.

“We’re just gonna go in and do the same thing,” Langdon said. “I don’t feel like I have anything to prove. We have a good team right now, we have a good race car and things are clicking.”

That mentality has served him well. He’s a former world champion who came up through the ranks without big money backing with not much more than hard work and taking advantage of every opportunity that he came across. So, his being recognized as one of NHRA’s Top 75 Drivers hit him emotionally, he said.

“It just kinda really caught me out of lost for words,” he shared. “I just literally got an opportunity and it’s kinda grown into this. I’m sitting in the autograph section at Pomona next to Brad Anderson and Kenny Bernstein… pretty crazy.”

Teammate Rivalry? More Like Team Kalitta Unity

One of the storylines this season has been the intra-team battle with teammate Doug Kalitta. Their crew chiefs push each other hard but Langdon downplays any trash-talk potential. Doug is “like the nicest guy out there,” and veterans like (crew chief) Allen Johnson command too much respect for games.

Instead, Langdon described a collaborative environment where crew chiefs Brian Husen and others share data and ideas.

“They’re on parallel paths going the same direction … At the end of Friday and Saturday, they both sit down with one another,” Langdon said, of the crew chiefs going over what each car is doing and how it is reacting to the track.

Langdon also spoke warmly about relationships with Antron Brown (they’ve even bracket-raced and cooked breakfast together), Tony Schumacher (who offered advice early in his career) and rising star Maddie Gordon, whom he’s mentored.

“We all really get along and we all hang out with each other on the off-weekends,” he said.

What It Feels Like at 345 MPH – Grok’s Question

In an attempt to see how “in-tune” emerging AI technologies are with NHRA and speed and whether AI could truly take over for flesh and blood reporters, a prompt was provided to Grok (yes, that AI) to compose a question it would ask of Langdon.

Grok asked: “If something feels a tiny bit off at 345 mph, what goes through your mind in those fractions of a second and how do you make corrective decisions?”

Langdon called it a “pretty loaded question” but a good one. At those speeds, there’s no time for deep thought – it’s all reaction.

“You reach a certain speed, it’s not like you can really think about what happens, because if you think about what happens … it’s too late,” he explained. “Everything has to be reactionary and you have to really kind of train your mind and your body to react properly.

“The cars aren’t difficult to drive, they’re difficult to make the right decisions in when you get put in a situation.”

No simulators for Top Fuel. Race day is the ultimate teacher, Langdon explained.