No one has ever doubted the driving ability of Shawn Langdon; a 2013 NHRA Top Fuel championship is proof of his ability.

The last three years, though, Langdon has dealt with his share of tough times getting zero national-event wins and finishing no better than ninth in the world standings.

This offseason changes were made at Kalitta Motorsports – namely, making Brian Husen the crew chief of Langdon’s Kalitta Air Careers team. The Grand Rapids, Michigan, native came to Langdon’s team after two seasons assisting crew chief Alan Johnson on Kalitta’s Mac Tools team, which he and Johnson guided Doug Kalitta to his first Top Fuel championship in 2023.

Langdon is no stranger to Husen. The duo worked together when Langdon won his lone world championship in 2013 piloting a Top Fuel dragster for Al-Anabi with Johnson as his crew chief.

The chemistry between Langdon and Husen has been unmistakable in 2024.

Langdon qualified No. 1 and then raced his way to the title at the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. He then won a round at the Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., and Sunday he was back in the winner’s circle at the Lucas Oil Arizona Nationals.

In the finals, Langdon clocked a 3.760-second elapsed time at 318.69 mph to defeat Justin Ashley’s 3.849-second lap at 324.98 mph at Firebird Motorsports Park.

“I mean it was really good,” Langdon said. “We got a little bit behind the eight-ball from the first run. We had a hole out on the Friday night session, so we just kind of played a little bit of catch up in qualifying, but we were still making good runs and felt really confident with the car going into (Sunday).”

On Sunday, Langdon defeated Josh Hart, Antron Brown, Steve Torrence before taking down Ashley.

“First round running with Josh Hart, and it was kind of a ... You're waiting for anything as a driver. And you're running Josh, you know Josh is a great driver, and he's got a great car. And so, you're just kind of set up on kill on the start line,” Langdon said. “So, if you hear anything, if you see anything, you're going to go. And I heard his RPMs go up, and so I made a mistake and hit the gas. And that's one of those situations where if you make the mistake and you hit the gas and you hold it down, you can make the run.

“My mistake was that I hit the gas and didn't hold it down. So, at that point, you can't get back in it because it throws everything out of whack and you're probably going to end up hurting a lot of stuff. So, I did the idle of shame down the racetrack first round, and it's about as bad as the walk of shame. But I kind of put Brian behind the eight-ball today with that. But I had full confidence in Brian, and we just looked back at the notes. And by we, I mean he did. And he felt confident going up there second round against Antron where we're going to be at and making a good run. So, we made really good runs today, what we felt like, per the track conditions. The track was really tricky. It was really tricky on that transfer spot onto the asphalt.”

Langdon also acknowledged nothing came easy for him on raceday.

“So, there's a lot of variables out there for today, I'll just say that. But the guys gave me a flawless car. And Brian did an excellent job,” Langdon said. “When you run into Justin in the final, you know what he's capable of. I mean he’s the best leaver in the class, bar none. So, my only focus was 'just leave with him' and then leave it up to Brian. I have that much confidence in Brian and my guys. So, when I hit the gas we left with him, I said, ‘Well, we’ve got a shot.’ And so, I just tried to hold it straight and saw the win light, and the rest was history. I was just very proud of my team, really."

This was Langdon’s 19th national-event Wally and 17th in Top Fuel. He also won two national events in the nitro Funny Car ranks for Kalitta Motorsports in 2019.

Langdon’s victory parade consisted of wins over Josh Hart, Antron Brown, Steve Torrence and Ashley.

“By the numbers it was a hole shot (against Torrence), but by the driver statistics, I mean I didn't do a fantastic job. I just happened to leave in an average state, and Steve was a little bit less than average and it ended up being a hole shot,” Langdon said. “But if you're 40s and 50s, yeah, you kind of pride yourself on those hole shots. But when you're 68, you're taking advantage of somebody else's little bit of a mistake. I mean, Steve's a very talented driver, obviously, and I'm sure he wasn't going up there trying to be 90, so he just missed it a little bit and I was able to capitalize on that.”

After three races, Langdon is leading the Top Fuel points standings, which gave him reason to smile.

“Yeah, I mean it feels great, obviously. I'm just really proud of everybody, all the hard work that went into the offseason,” Langdon said. “I mean it has been hard for the last couple of years to struggle and just got to bite your tongue (about) a lot of things and you just keep your head down and just keep working hard. Eventually, the tide's going to roll the other way at some point. You don't know how long, but you know at some point it will and it's paying dividends right now. So, again, just keep our head down and internally, we feel very confident with the team that we have put together and we feel very confident with ourselves.”

Especially with Husen calling the shots.

“There were many years when we were on the Al-Anabi team and I pride myself on being perfect,” Langdon said. “When I'm not perfect, it really irks me. And he's really good about, ‘Suck it up, buttercup. Get over it and move onto the next round.’ And he puts it in a simple way that I just simply get over it, really. So, I mean I didn't really feel like I made a mistake. It was a mistake, but I mean Josh is going for it, I'm going for it. And it was a really long tree, and those are just things that happen when you're ... Look, we can go 70 all day long, but if you want to try to perform and go 40s and 50s, that's going to happen. So, yeah, I mean you know Brian. It's good to surround yourself with good people that in times when you may not have 100 percent confidence, they bring it right back to 100 percent.”

Some outsiders may be surprised at Husen’s immediate success as a wrench boss – but not Langdon.

“Personally, I felt like Brian was ready for years to be a crew chief, but when you're in a position like Brian and you work with Alan Johnson, I mean it's not a bad position to be in,” Langdon said. “So, I think he just took advantage of the opportunity of working with AJ for as many years as he could, and not force something. I think just wait for the right opportunity and wait for everything to fall into place. And fortunately, for me, I'm the lucky driver that gets the residual effects of Brian patiently waiting his opportunity and now being able to showcase it. Just prime example's that 76 in the final.

“It's still early in the season, so I mean this is, what, my 15th year and I've had a lot of seasons that we're still in test mode, we're still in the beginning of the season. But fortunately, we just got a good head start on it and hopefully we can maintain that.”