LANGDON REVELS IN MENTORING ROLE

by Susan Wade    Tue, 2021-03-16 10:46

 

Shawn Langdon isn’t a dad, but he discovered he has those fatherly instincts. During the longer-than-usual offseason, the driver of Kalitta Motorsports’ DHL Toyota Dragster stayed busy, working on his bracket cars – and prepping his nephew Caden’s Jr. Dragster. So he was able to get away from his colder Indiana house and spend some time back in his Southern California.

“It’s pretty funny . . . I look back throughout all the years, and I always say I wish I knew then what I know now in learning things,” Langdon said. “Along the way, I always had people I could rely on. I think the most gratifying thing in working with Caden is when he comes to me and has questions and I give him my best advice of things I’ve learned throughout the years. He sits there and listens, and you can see it soak in. And then he goes out and applies it on the racetrack. Then you see the benefits on the track and he comes back with a smile on his face, happy that he did a good job. He did it and gets all the credit, but just knowing that I contributed a little bit to that is a very different experience.

“He was very fortunate. In just his second race in the car, he went out and won, and it was such a gratifying feeling. Standing on the starting line, I felt such a different wave of emotions than in winning a race myself,” he said.

“I feel like I’ve been lucky enough to win a lot of races inside the cockpit, where I really felt like I built up this type of wall, where I really don’t let nerves get to me or worry what other people were doing around me. Standing on the starting line in the final round with my nephew up there, I was so darn nervous I thought I was going to get sick right there,” Langdon said. “It was such a different feeling that I wasn’t accustomed to, but it was such a great feeling. I didn’t feel like I could get that in the race car. Just to see that win light come on and the smile on his face, I was so happy and proud of him to see what he was able to accomplish in such a short time. Just being there and maybe having a small part of it in giving him some advice that I learned throughout the years was very, very rewarding.”

This is the second season back in a Top Fuel dragster for 2013 Top Fuel champion Langdon, who tried his hand at Funny Cars and became only the 17th driver ever to win in both nitro classes. He said he’s ready to start trying to improve on his sixth-place finish in last November’s final standings. After two Funny Car victories, he’s looking for his 16th in Top Fuel. This time, the off-season wait was longer for everybody, and Langdon said for him, “It’s different. I kept busy the whole time and about everything I did was racing-related, so even though it may have actually been four months off, in my mind it wasn’t. I’d still be practicing on my practice tree and racing on my iRacing simulator. There’s still a lot of stuff I do seven days a week that’s racing-related.”

As for his 2021 outlook, Langdon said, “I’d like to pick up where we left off last year. We really started running a lot better towards the end of the year. [Crew chief] Kurt Elliott and Connie [tuner/team owner Kalitta] have done a great job of working on the car, tuning it and giving me a chance to win on Sunday. And that’s all I need. As long as I have a chance, I feel like I can keep us competitive with reaction times. I know that every one of these crew guys busted their butt all off-season, double and triple-checking everything making sure we are very prepared and ready to go. No matter what happens this year with the pandemic, I feel that we’re ready to run 24 races, test as much as we need to, and contend for a championship.”

His crew remains the same, except for one new member. “Our new team member is getting a crash course with us,” Langdon said, “but he came from one of the other teams out here, and I don’t have any doubt that he’s going to fit right in here and be up to the task. We have a great DHL Toyota team here with our leader, Connie Kalitta, who set a great precedent with the team last year, keeping everyone employed through the pandemic. Never cut anyone’s paycheck and kept everyone employed and really put the team first. He’s been involved in this sport so long. He’s put so much into this sport, but the sport has also given back to him. What he did last year with keeping everyone on staff, he definitely gave back everything and then some back into the sport. I’m just grateful to be working with a great man like Connie.”

 

 

 

 
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