Shawn Langdon dedicates his first NHRA Funny Car ‘Wally’ to dad

Shawn Langdon entered the Funny Car final Sunday at zMAX Dragway with someone in mind, and it wasn’t just the three drivers with a combined 20 titles who were lined up against him.

His father, Chad, had beaten cancer after a successful liver transplant earlier this month in Durham.

With that, Langdon raced to victory in the 10th NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals to become the second driver to win in both the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories at the dragway and the 17th in NHRA history with wins in both categories.

“There are so many factors,” Langdon said of what went into his first Funny Car triumph. “First, my dad. He’s going through cancer. I told him, ‘I’m going to get you a Wally.’ Dad, I got you one, buddy.”

Langdon, a 14-time winner in Top Fuel and a former season champion, won in his 30th Funny Car start. He had a run of 4.125-seconds at 305.08 mph in the final in a Toyota Camry. Robert Hight was second, 0.034 seconds behind, followed by 16-time champion John Force and Matt Hagan.

Steve Torrence won in Top Fuel, and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Defending Top Fuel season champion Steve Torrence raced to his first victory of the season and third in a row in the event with a 3.778 at 323.19. Clay Millican was second, followed by Terry McMillen and Leah Pritchett.

Andrew Hines became the first Pro Stock Motorcycle rider to reach 50 victories, edging Harley-Davidson teammate Eddie Krawiec with a 6.831 at 198.17.

In Pro Mod, Mike Janis drove his 1969 Chevrolet Camaro to a winning pass of 5.799 seconds at 248.52 mph over Rickie Smith, Steve Jackson and Erica Enders.

This story was originally published April 28, 2019 at 8:28 PM.