NO
DAYS OFF
Bracket racing helps Funny Car star
Shawn Langdon stay in ‘race mode’
I
t’s late April and the 2019 NHRA racing season BY JOSH HACHAT
has just completed its second back-to-back race week-
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
end of the year. The stretch, which also included four RICK BELDEN AND SHAWN CROSE
races in five weeks, was a particularly significant one
for Shawn Langdon, who picked up the first career and Charlotte in April, doing his best to make
Funny Car win of his standout career with his victory sure if there’s an open gap in his professional
schedule it’s filled by racing in his bracket car.
in Charlotte.
Racing is his job, his passion and his hobby –
all depending on the weekend. Langdon’s year
But the former Top Fuel world champion isn’t ex- starts well before the NHRA Winternationals
actly eager for the time off. In fact, he’s a little puzzled in Pomona in early February and ends well after
NHRA World Finals in Pomona in Novem-
on how he’s supposed to pass the hours. “It’s my first the
ber, not for any other reason than that’s how he
off weekend since January and I don’t know what to do with wants it to be. It makes Langdon a better driver,
a more focused driver and provides a chance for
myself,” Langdon says.
an escape from the television cameras and bright
Langdon’s life is 24 weekends of NHRA Funny Car racing lights of high-level nitro racing.
“It’s kind of like when you get into something
and then as many sportsman weekends as possible to fill in the and keep going,” Langdon says. “All I’ve known my
life is racing. I don’t know how to function
gaps – and that’s just the way he likes it. He raced at the Spring whole
at home on an off weekend. I don’t know how
Fling Million in Las Vegas between NHRA stops in Houston to be at home. To me, I utilize my off weekends
D r a g Il l u s t r a t e d . c o m
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Dr ag Illustr ated