The Supremes sang, "You keep me hangin' on. Why do you keep a-comin' around, playing with my heart?" 
 
That might be what Shawn Langdon feels like singing to NHRA Top Fuel drag racing. 
 
He has plodded on with occasionally stratospheric-like performances using barely sufficient funds since his sponsor abruptly left the class on the eve of the season-opener. But the Alan Johnson Racing driver always sees that glimmer of hope, either with a stunning elapsed time or a fresh and generous dose of money from Toyota, and he still is hanging on. 
 
Langdon, the 2013 Top Fuel champion, scored another hit Friday night at Minnesota's Brainerd International Raceway with his supreme solo act - a 3.749-second blast at 321.35 mph in the Knuckle Sandwich Toyota Dragster on the 1,000-foot course. That earned him the tentative No. 1 qualifying position, perhaps his third of the season, pending two Saturday attempts for the field of 17 entrants.
 
He started the event in second place in the lineup, then passed first-session leader Richie Crampton of Morgan Lucas Racing by .15 of a second. Crampton will head into Saturday's last qualifying day second in the order with a 3.754-second E.T. in the Lucas Oil Dragster.
 
Dave Connolly, from Bob Vandergriff Racing, set the track speed record at 330.31 mph in Friday's second session.
 
But the day ultimately belonged to Langdon, who said his car seemed to come alive again "in the middle of the Sonoma race." That was two events ago, in the middle of the Western Swing, which he finished as runner-up at Seattle to JR Todd.
 
Said Langdon, "We were on our way to probably running 3.73 first round [at Sonoma] when it broke that camshaft. In Seattle we continued to make good runs and were fortunate to get to the finals there and [are] continuing with two great runs today."
 
He called it "good timing" and said, "Alan always seems to spark it up a bit, seems to turn it up a notch when it comes to Countdown time. Hopefully we can do a little celebration tonight out there in the Zoo."
 
Brainerd is famous for its sometimes-rowdy, always fun-loving campground known affectionately as "The Zoo."
 
Langdon said watching the Funny Car class run in front of him and seeing the spate of sub-four-second passes inspired his Brian Husen-led team.
 
"With these last couple of races, with Jimmy Prock [crew chief for Funny Car whiz Jack Beckman] running so well," he said, expectations spike that much more.
 
"I was a fan, standing out there, watching the Funny Car class," he said. "It's pretty amazing how quick they're running. Same with our class: No. 10's a [3.81, for Antron Brown]. Everybody running really well. It's a food time to run well, right before the Countdown. Everyone's digging deep and trying to run hard."
 
He wanted to run harder, too, but said his team watched a lot of cars ahead of him in that same lane smoke the tires. So, he said, "we slowed it down a little bit. Looking back, it was a good thing we did. We could see it was starting to get fast with the driveshaft in that area. We still had a little left in it. It had two holes [cylinders] out down there [at the finish line]. So it’s out there. The track's good. The Brainerd track's always great when the temperatures' down a little bit like it is. With the forecast this weekend, you might see your first 3.60 out of a Top Fuel car."
 
Ah, that lure of the next milestone is what keeps Langdon hangin' on.
 
Cue up The Supremes: "For a feeling that's so new, so inviting, so exciting  . . . I hear a symphony . . . "

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