If at first you don't succeed, you might just be Shawn Langdon.
Langdon, driver of the Red Fuel/Sandvik Top Fuel dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, has lived out the very definition of try, try again. This season after six-straight first round losses to open the year has given way to two consecutive wins and a remarkable seven spot climb in points. No one over that time period has seen a more dramatic turnaround, and Langdon is more than happy to finally be celebrating in the winner's circle rather than packing up and heading home early.
"The crew, all of us, because of how bad we were at the beginning of the year, we were all walking on egg shells. We were really fighting for our jobs just trying to turn things around and keep this team going," Langdon said. "To see how hard this team has worked and to finally see the results and showing what this team is capable of, is really exciting. At the beginning of the year, there were a lot of questions being asked. 'Why are you guys not winning?' Why are you guys not performing?'
"As a team, we kept saying that it will come. We got on a bad streak, we will work out of it. Now that that time has come and we got those back-to-back wins, it is very, very gratifying. I am very proud of this team."
To understand just how bad of a start it was for the 2013 Top Fuel world champ, you have to go all the way back to the end of 2015. Left without a ride after Alan Johnson Racing suspended its operation at the end of the 16-race regular season, Langdon was hastily plucked from free agency to join DSR for the Countdown to the Championship playoffs, where he won the season finale in Pomona. In December, Langdon was tapped to drive the Red Fuel dragster fulltime.
With a short turnaround, Langdon and company went to work preparing the car for the 2016 season and proceeded with a number of changes that left the team a bit behind the eight ball when the season rolled around in February.
And that is when the struggles really began. A first round loss in Pomona. Another in Phoenix. One more in Gainesville. In all, six consecutive first round defeats greeted the team to kick off the 2016 campaign.
After the initial rough patch, things quickly began to turn around for the team. Sitting 11th in the standings, Langdon got his first round win of the year in race six in Houston. That triumph led to two round wins in Atlanta, two more in Englishtown, and then, a breakthrough win in Bristol. He followed that up with a second-straight victory in Norwalk one week later.
After an 0-6 start, Langdon has recorded an impressive 15-5 round record and has climbed all the way up to sixth in the Countdown standings.
"For me, my competitive side, of course it was frustrating. Every time I show up at the race track I am prepared to win, mentally and physically. I want to win, that is why I race," Langdon said. "But while it was frustrating, in the grand scheme of things, I know the potential of the Red Fuel team. I knew what the team is capable of.
"I felt the best thing for me to do through it all was to not say anything, ride the wave of the sport -- sometimes it is up, and sometimes you suffer some down time -- and in the end it will all work out. I have a job with a great team, so I knew that we were going to come out of it at some point. We just had to have the patience."
Riding the momentum of two straight wins on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag tour, Langdon returns to action this weekend in Chicago after an off weekend during the Independence Day holiday.
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Larry Crum is a Senior Writer for competitionplus.com, a leading independent online drag racing magazine, since 1999. For the latest in dragster news worldwide, visit competitionplus.com or follow on Twitter @competitionplus.
