Langdon hopes to avoid ‘what if’ question with Top Fuel championship crown

Shawn Langdon and his Kalitta Motorsports team know their mission is simple this weekend in the NHRA Top Fuel championship fight: win to take it all.

“You feel like you’ve got your back up against the wall,” Langdon said this week ahead of the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona, “and now we’ve left ourselves with only one option and that’s we’ve got to win.”

But it didn’t have to be that way and that’s what makes it hurt.

Langdon, who sent point leader Justin Ashley home in the second round, was on a run in the Las Vegas event (Nov. 3) that would have sent him to the finals. But the dragster pulled to the left and crossed the center line, taking out the timing blocks. If the disqualification wasn’t bad enough, which handed the win to teammate Doug Kalitta, there was also a massive left-rear tire blowout.

The car and Langdon’s team headed to Precision Built Race Cars for repairs. Langdon, meanwhile, tried to come to terms with what happened.

It started with an emotion filled television interview for Fox Sports where Langdon noted he had never before hit anything in his career, was dejected for his team, and felt he gave one away. At the same time, he also expressed the championship ability of his team and hoped he wasn’t going to be the cause of it not happening.

In a post on his official Facebook page, along with pictures of the repair work, Langdon wrote: “(I) feel bad my decisions and driving have led people to work a little overtime but luckily I have a badass team committed to competing for this championship.”

A final round win in Las Vegas would have netted Langdon and company 20 more points. Instead, he heads into Pomona sitting 45 points behind.

There are 30 points paid out in each round in the finale.

“Last week was a pretty hard pill to swallow,” Langdon said. “It was tough. It’s one of those where I feel like if we don’t happen to win (the championship), I’ll probably have that ‘what if’ question mark over my head for the rest of my career. The coulda, shoulda, woulda.

“We all got together and the guys did a great job getting everything back (to Indianapolis), so at this point, we focus on what’s forward. I had the whole last week to stress about it and have my self-interventions and realization. I’m in the cone collector club now but that’s fine. I got over it … maybe a little bit.

“I know once I pull into Pomona, I’m not thinking about Vegas, I’m thinking about Pomona.”

A triumph Sunday would be a second Top Fuel championship for Langdon.

Story originally appeared on Racer