Shawn Langdon. Winner of the Top Fuel at the Southern Nationals at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, Georgia – Kalitta Motorsports Photo
J.R. Todd Reaches Final Round, Takes Points Lead; Doug Kalitta Races in Third Final Round of Season
NHRA Southern Nationals
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
South Georgia Motorsports Park; Adel, Ga.
TOP FUEL WINNER: Shawn Langdon, Kalitta Air Careers Dragster
Finals Broadcast Replay (eastern time): 5-8 p.m. Monday, May 4 on FS2
Qualifying: Shawn Langdon was the No. 2 qualifier at the NHRA Southern
Nationals. Langdon reached 345.00 mph and made the fastest run in NHRA
history during the second round of qualifying on Friday and was the
provisional No. 1 qualifier. After his teammate, Doug Kalitta, made a
quicker run and was No. 1, Langdon was in the last pair of cars in the
final qualifying session. He made another brilliant pass, a 3.683-second
effort at 344.91 mph, just .09 mph slower than Friday’s record-setting
pass, but it was not good enough to pass Kalitta. Langdon took the No. 2
qualifying position and now owns the two fastest runs in NHRA history.
Eliminations: Langdon defeated Cameron Feree, Antron Brown and Clay
Millican to reach an all-Team Kalitta final round; it was his 6th
head-to-head final round with Doug Kalitta, and Langdon led the series
3-2. In the final, the drivers left the starting line almost together,
but Kalitta dropped a cylinder early in the run, and Langdon won with a
3.808-second pass at 333.16 mph. Langdon now leads the final-round
head-to-head with Kalitta 4-2. It was Langdon’s second win in the
season’s first five races and the 24th of his career.
When Langdon advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission
Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the next race. During Saturday’s
qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the second round at the
last race will re-run semifinals and final earning additional purse and
championship bonus points.
With J.R. Todd making the Funny Car final, the NHRA Southern Nationals
was the first race since 2014 that three Kalitta Motorsports cars raced
in the final round. In 2014, Kalitta and Todd raced in the Top Fuel
final while Alexis Dejoria raced for team Kalitta in the Funny Car
final.
Unofficial Point Standings: Langdon leaves Georgia in first place in the
NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He leads his teammate, Doug Kalitta, by
four points.
Langdon on South Georgia: “This (win) is very satisfying. It’s always a
good weekend when you can wake up in the morning and feel like you can
win,” Langdon said. “A lot of hard work went into the offseason trying
to improve a lot of things with the car, and it’s paying big dividends
right now. All three Kalitta cars are fantastic right now.
“You get the taste of 345 (mph in qualifying), and you have to get a
little bit of an ego check and just slow it down and adapt to the
changes in what the racetrack will allow. That was the thing – it was
survival at that point. We had to figure out how to get the car to go
down the track, and that was a big point of emphasis. Going to the
final, Brian said, ‘I’m going to try to get the car to match what I
think Doug will run and let you and Doug have it out.’ I didn’t
particularly like that scenario because I wasn’t hitting the tree
particularly well today, but we got it done and fortunately got the win.
“We love this facility – this track has a lot of its own
characteristics. You can go 345 mph, but it can also throw some curve
balls. Great job by the whole group at this racetrack. Connie’s (Team
Owner Connie Kalitta) at home, and we miss having him here. Hats off to
Brian, my whole Kalitta Air group and everybody at Mac Tools, Mobil 1,
Revchem, SealMaster. It’s a big collective effort – we have two
good-running Top Fuel cars, and it’s a good time to be part of Team
Kalitta right now.”
Crew Chief Brian Husen on South Georgia: “It’s pretty damn cool, man,
all these fans that came out here, we appreciate them all showing up. It
was a rough day yesterday with all the rain, and we’re just happy to be
able to put on a good show for them. Today was little trickier with the
heat, but I’m just so damn proud of these Kalitta Air guys. They do a
hell of a job, so it’s been a good day for Team Kalitta.”
Funny Car Points Leader: J.R. Todd, DHL GR Supra Funny Car
Finals Broadcast Replay (eastern time): 5-8 p.m. Monday, May 4 on FS2
Qualifying: J.R. Todd was the No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA Southern
Nationals. It was his second No. 1 qualifier in the last three races and
the 16th of his career. Todd posted the quickest run in the first two
qualifying sessions and was second quickest in the third. His best
attempt came in the first session Friday afternoon when he made a
3.887-second pass at 339.28 mph making the fastest Funny Car run of the
season, the fourth fastest Funny Car run all time and the fastest of his
career.
Eliminations: Todd defeated Daniel Wilkerson, had a second-round bye and
defeated Alexis DeJoria in a tire-smoking semifinal to advance to the
54th final round of his career against Jordan Vandergriff. In the final,
Todd was off the starting line first, but the DHL GR Supra smoked the
tires at about half track giving Vandergriff the win.
When Todd advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission
Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the next race. During Saturday’s
qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the second round at the
last race will re-run semifinals and final earning additional purse and
championship bonus points.
With Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta making the Top Fuel final, the NHRA
Southern Nationals was the first race since 2014 that three Kalitta
Motorsports cars raced in the final round. In 2014, Kalitta and Todd
raced in the Top Fuel final while Alexis Dejoria raced for team Kalitta
in the Funny Car final.
Unofficial Point Standings: Todd leaves South Georgia in first place in
in the NHRA Funny Car point standings. He leads second-place Ron Capps
by two points.
Todd on South Georgia: “We knew the track was gonna be different than
what we’d seen all weekend once the sun got on it. It was definitely
tricky, but we made good runs in the first round and second round. Then
in the semifinals, something happened with the clutch; we’re not real
sure what yet, but it caused it to blow the tires off like that at the
starting line. We were fortunate enough to get the win. In the final, we
were just trying too hard out past halftrack trying to run really hard
there and spun the tires. I’m definitely happy with the progress our DHL
team is making. I’ll take going to the later rounds every weekend; the
consistency is definitely coming around and we’re racking up points.
That’s the name of the game right now.”
Doug Kalitta, Mac Tools Top Fuel Dragster
Finals Broadcast Replay (eastern time): 5-8 p.m. Monday, May 4 on FS2
Qualifying: Doug Kalitta was the No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA Southern
Nationals; it was his first of the season and the 67th of his career.
During the final round of qualifying Saturday afternoon, Kalitta blasted
down the track with a 3.657-second effort at 342.37 mph to claim the No.
1 spot. Kalitta’s run was NHRA’s quickest elapsed time of the season and
the fifth-fastest run in NHRA history.
Eliminations: Kalitta had a first round bye and defeated Leah Pruett and
Justin Ashley to reach an all-Team Kalitta final round; it was Kalitta’s
6th head-to-head final round against Shawn Langdon, and Langdon led the
series 3-2. In the final, the drivers left the starting line almost
together, but Kalitta dropped a cylinder almost immediately, and Langdon
won with a 3.808-second pass at 333.16 mph. Langdon now leads the
final-round head-to-head with Kalitta 4-2.
When Kalitta advanced to the semifinals, he earned a spot in the Mission
Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge at the next race. During Saturday’s
qualifying sessions, the drivers who reached the second round at the
last race will re-run semifinals and final earning additional purse and
championship bonus points.
With J.R. Todd making the Funny Car final, the NHRA Southern Nationals
was the first race since 2014 that three Kalitta Motorsports cars raced
in the final round. In 2014, Kalitta and Todd raced in the Top Fuel
final while Alexis Dejoria raced for team Kalitta in the Funny Car
final.
Unofficial Point Standings: Kalitta leaves South Georgia in second place
in the NHRA Top Fuel point standings. He trails his teammate, Shawn
Langdon, by four points and leads third-place Leah Pruett by 125 points.
Kalitta on South Georgia:” Obviously, we would’ve loved to get the win
for this Mac Tools team today, but all in all, it was a strong weekend
for us. Racing at Southern Georgia Motorsports Park was really special
— it’s an incredible facility, and the fans here were outstanding all
weekend. Hats off to Shawn and his team; they ran a great race in the
final. We’ll take this momentum, keep building, and get ready for
Chicago.”
Doug Kalitta Photo Courtesy: NHRA
Next Race: Team Kalitta will be back in action May 15-17, 2026 at the
Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Joliet, Ill. For
additional information, please visit www.nhra.com [1]. For additional
information on Kalitta Motorsports, please visit www.teamkalitta.com
[2].
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