YPSILANTI, Mich. (Aug. 27, 2024) – Shawn Langdon won the U.S. Nationals Top Fuel title in 2013 and 2020, and with a fantastic 2024 regular season coming to a close this weekend, he seeks his third win at the prestigious race with a new yet familiar partner onboard. The 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Season resumes Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2024 at the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
Applied Innovation is a longtime Kalitta Motorsports and Kalitta Air partner, and this weekend, Langdon will drive the Applied Innovation/Kalitta Air Careers Top Fuel dragster. Applied was Doug Kalitta’s primary sponsor for three races earlier this year, including the pre-season special event, but this weekend’s race is the company’s first time on Langdon’s car.
Applied Innovation serves customers in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Florida with managed and co-managed IT and Help Desk services. Applied was founded as a printer, copier and fax company in 1987. Today, the company is a growing, full-fledged office-technology provider. Applied’s technology services and solutions are designed not only to improve its clients’ business but also the lives of the people working within them.
“We value our partnership with Kalitta and have greatly appreciated the opportunity to delve deeper into the dynamic world of NHRA Drag Racing,” Applied Innovation Director of Business Development Scott Grinwis said. “Over the past few years, we’ve been introduced to the sport and its vibrant community of fans and business partners. The Kalitta team has demonstrated remarkable success this season, and we extend our best wishes to them. We are very excited to be onboard with Shawn Langdon and the Kalitta Air Careers Top Fuel dragster at the U.S. Nationals.”
Applied Innovation is also joining the “Race to End Hunger” this season. The Toyota U.S. Nationals is the first event of the 2024 “Race to End Hunger,” the program through which Kalitta Motorsports, DHL Express and Kalitta Air, along with five new partners, are joining Feeding America in the fight against food insecurity. For every Kalitta Motorsports round win this weekend through the NHRA Nevada Nationals in Las Vegas, Nov. 1-3, 2024, the team will donate $1,000 to Feeding America, and it will be matched by DHL Express, Kalitta Air and the five “double down partners.” Applied Innovation is the “double-down partner” this weekend meaning each Kalitta Motorsports round win will be worth $4,000 or 40,000 Feeding America meals.
Langdon enters the regular season’s final race with a car that’s done just about everything but win in the last several races. The Applied Innovation/Kalitta Air Careers car was the No. 1 qualifier at Richmond, but Langdon lost to his teammate, Doug Kalitta, in the final round. That race was the first of Langdon’s three final-round appearances in the last five races.
His most-recent final-round showing came just one race ago when the 2013 Top Fuel champion raced to a runner-up finish losing to Justin Ashley in the final round at Brainerd, Minn. On the season, Langdon is second in points on the strength of two wins among six final-round appearances. One year ago, Langdon entered the Toyota U.S. Nationals mired at 11th place in points – it was a very different time, and Langdon has a pretty good idea about the reason for the turn-a-round.
“Brian Husen is something special, man,” Langdon said about first-year Crew Chief. “He’s done such a great job this year in his first year out giving me a great race car, bringing in Justin (Assistant Crew Chief Justin Groat) and a couple of other new guys. The team chemistry is just awesome, and everybody’s having a great time. Winning helps a lot of that, but we have a great group over here with the Applied Innovation/Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team. We’ve just been missing the little things, but it looks like we may have put it all together so we’re almost Countdown ready now.”
And now the race many consider the biggest in the sport is on the horizon, and the Mira Loma, Calif., driver wants to make it three U.S. Nationals wins, but throw in his 2010 Super Comp win, and a victory this weekend would be his fourth at this event. But perhaps more important is maintaining the team’s second place points position. He trails his teammate, Doug Kalitta, by 84 points, leads third-place Justin Ashley by 21 points, fourth-place Steve Torrence by 89 points and fifth-place Antron Brown by 103 points. With “points and a half” on the line this weekend, Langdon definitely needs a strong weekend to hold his position.
“We’re looking forward to the weekend,” Langdon said. “We’re second in points, and the car’s been really good. We’ll try to continue to do what we’ve been doing. We’d really like to keep the Kalitta cars one-two in points, but we probably need both cars to go at least two rounds and keep going the direction we’ve been going. Winning the U.S. Nationals is always good – always a good one to win, but I try to treat it like any other race.”
But it isn’t any other race. It’s considered by most the biggest of the season, it determines starting positions for the Countdown to the Championship NHRA Playoffs, and that matters because after the U.S. Nationals, the points will be reset to tighten the field entering the six-race playoffs. So is it more important to win the race or make sure the Applied Innovation/Kalitta Air Careers Toyota team is in good form?
“It’s kinda both,” Langdon added, “You want to have a good car and be running well, but you also need to finish well because when they reset the points, you want to be in a good position.”
Kalitta Motorsports | Image: Kalitta Motorsports
