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Shawn Langdon defeats J.R. Todd in all Kalitta Motorsports/Toyota Camry battle

29 Sep 2019
Jacob Sundstrom, NHRA National Dragster Associate Editor
Race coverage
Shawn Langdon

Shawn Langdon is now a two-time Funny Car winner. He defeated Kalitta Motorsports teammate J.R. Todd to get his second win at World Wide Technology Raceway and first in a Funny Car, moving him to seventh in points in the process. 

Langdon beat Tommy Johnson Jr. on a holeshot to start his race day, cutting a .047-second reaction time to get to the stripe first. That started a trend for the former Top Fuel world champion, who gave his Global Electronic Technology Toyota Camry Funny Car team a helping hand in the first two rounds, but none bigger than against Jim Campbell. 

The driver left second against Campbell and his car almost immediately lost traction. Langdon was able to get his car to recover and blew past Campbell at half-track to earn the 16th win of his career in his 33rd final. It was the first all-Kalitta Motorsports Funny Car final since the spring 2016 Las Vegas race when Alexis DeJoria beat Del Worsham. 

J.R. Todd also got his first-round win with a holeshot. He defeated Jack Beckman, who entered St. Louis as the leader in Funny Car and leaves the race 23 points behind Robert Hight. Todd is in fifth place, 52 points behind Hight as he continues his Funny Car world championship defense. 

Hight, who claimed pole position, took over the Funny Car standings lead and will head to Charlotte for the third race of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship looking for his first win of the playoffs. He's now 12 points ahead of John Force Racing teammate John Force, who broke his streak of back-to-back final round appearances. 

The NHRA Countdown to the Championship continues at the NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals from Oct. 11-13. You can grab tickets here.