LANGDON CAPTURES VICTORY AT ARIZONA NATIONALS
Toyota earns third straight Top Fuel victory to start 2024; fourth consecutive overall
CHANDLER, Ariz. (April 7, 2024) – Shawn Langdon took home the Wally Trophy at the NHRA Arizona Nationals by defeating Toyota teammate, Justin Ashley, in the finals Sunday afternoon at Firebird Motorsports Park. Today’s triumph is Langdon’s second win in three races to kick off 2024 and is the 19th victory of his career. Ashley’s final round appearance caps off a solid weekend for the New York native, in which he also won the postponed Winternationals final from two weeks ago.
In Funny Car, Alexis DeJoria led the Toyota GR Supra contingent by making the final round on Sunday – her first finals appearance since the Mile High Nationals last summer. The Texan was defeated by Austin Prock in a nail-biting final. J.R. Todd followed up his Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge victory yesterday by taking his DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car to the semifinals, falling to Prock by 0.011 of a second.
The final round appearances by Ashley, Langdon and DeJoria extended Toyota’s final round streak to 26 consecutive in the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series
NHRA Arizona Nationals
Firebird Motorsports Park
Race 3 of 20
TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINISHING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Final Result | Round-by-Round |
| Shawn Langdon | Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Winner | W (18.456) v. J. Hart (4.182 – red light) W (3.823) v. A. Brown (9.059) W (3.870 – holeshot) v. S. Torrence (3.851) W (3.760) v. J. Ashley (3.849) |
| Justin Ashley | SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Finalist | W (3.804 – holeshot) v. T. Schumacher (3.791) W (3.825) v. D. Kalitta (3.866) W (3.844) v. T. Stewart (3.885) L (3.849) v. S. Langdon (3.760) |
| Steve Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Semi-finals | W (3.829) v. T. Schumake (4.504) W (3.835) v. S. Reed (4.867) L (3.851) v. S. Langdon (3.870 – holeshot) |
| Doug Kalitta | Sealmaster Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Second Round | W (3.993 – holeshot) v. T. Totten (3.978) L (3.866) v. J. Ashley (3.825) |
| Antron Brown | Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Second Round | W (3.804) v. C. Millican (3.898) L (9.059) v. S. Langdon (3.823) |
| Billy Torrence | CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster | Second Round | W (4.733) v. K. Baldwin (10.331) L (7.844) v. T. Stewart (3.978) |
TOYOTA FUNNY CAR FINISHING POSITIONS
| Name | Car | Final Result | Round-by-Round |
| Alexis DeJoria | Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | Finalist | W (4.108) v. B. Tasca III (8.310) W (4.043) v. B. Bode (9.485) W (4.060) v. B. Alexander (8.463) L (4.049) v. A. Prock (3.952) |
| J.R. Todd | DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | Semi-finals | W (3.936) v. C. Pedregon (4.023) W (4.003) v. J. Force (4.036) L (4.010) v. A. Prock (3.999) |
| Ron Capps | NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car | First Round | L (5.055) v. B. Alexander (4.525) |
*= Non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
SHAWN LANGDON, Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports
TF Final Result: Winner
It seemed like a picture-perfect day for your team, would you say?
“You know, it really was. This whole Kalitta Air team, from Connie (Kalitta, team owner, Kalitta Motorsports), Chad Head (general manager, Kalitta Motorsports), to Brian Husen (crew-chief) coming over this year. Brian’s done such a fantastic job making some crew changes and the crew has been absolutely flawless. They’ve given me a picture-perfect car all year long. First round, we had a little bit of a weird hiccup and I had to do the idle of shame down the race track. The rest of the runs went a lot smoother. I know in the final, Justin (Ashley) and that whole SCAG group over there with Tommy (DeLago, crew chief) and Mike Green (co-crew chief), they’re a tough bunch. I was thinking in my head, ‘I just got to lead Justin and let Brian do his work.’ So when I hit the gas, I said, ‘Well, we got a shot.’ So, congrats to Brian, the whole Kalitta Air team, everyone at Toyota, DHL, Revchem. Two out of three is not bad, but we’re ready for more.”
ALEXIS DEJORIA, Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, DC Motorsports
FC Final Result: Finalist
Can you describe your day and weekend overall?
“What a way to turn it around. This is a complete ‘rags to riches’ event for us. We had a hard time qualifying, had a hard time getting it down the race track. We moved some things around, Del (Worsham, crew chief) went through the car because it was just being finnicky and it wasn’t listening to anything we were trying to do to it. But, he figured it out, the guys got it all together and we got qualified in the 15th spot. You’ve just got to qualify; you’ve got to get in it to have a shot to win it, and that’s exactly what we did. To tell you that I thought we were going to make it to the finals today, was not very likely but again, anything can happen if you just stay focused and have faith, and I have the utmost faith in my team. I know what we’re capable of, we’ve done it before. It was a great way to come back from not being able to get down the race track. Got to the finals, leaving here in the eighth position, heading to Las Vegas for the Four-Wide Nationals. That’s another great track where we’ve had success. I just have to say how proud I am of my team, my crew chief Del Worsham, and assistant crew chief Matt Bynum for keeping it together. It’s been really frustrating for all of us. We’re better than what we’ve shown the last few races and this is a testament to how good we really are. We’ve got our car back.”
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