If you’re a fan of drag racing, this past weekend certainly did not disappoint, as the NHRA set up shop for the first time at the Maryland International Raceway (MIR). Fans in attendance and television viewers alike witnessed good old-fashioned speed, drag-racing style, of course. With the onset of summer and the national and international motorsports schedule picking up, the NHRA provides more than just a niche form of racing – it provides the ultimate fan experience for some of the fastest cars on earth.
The NHRA Potomac Nationals delivered the goods
The first running of the NHRA Potomac Nationals provided all of the background for a great weekend of racing – really fast racing. Every category of drag racing provides thrills and chills, but there is just something about the Top Fuel category that never seems to let fans down in their expectations, and last Saturday and Sunday certainly were no exception.
Current NHRA Top Fuel points leader Shawn Langdon provided all the fireworks needed (in a manner of speaking, of course) to set the tone for the inaugural running of the Potomac Nationals and set the tone for the entire weekend by setting a track-record 3.744 elapsed time and a 334.90 MPH speed during the Saturday qualifying runs. With a third top qualifying run in the 2026 season, Langdon moved on to the Sunday finals against teammate Doug Kalitta in an all-team Kalitta showdown.
As the saying goes, the rest is history, as both Shawn Langdon and Doug Kalitta provided a show that’s the stuff of legends in the concluding race on Sunday afternoon, with Langdon putting down an elapsed time of 3.762 seconds to Kalitta’s 3.766 seconds. Folks, if you want to do the math on the difference between first and second place in this race, the determining distance between the two dragsters was approximately one inch, and that’s not a typographical error. In many sports, there’s always a saying that it’s a game of inches, but for the NHRA Top Fuel category this past weekend, Shawn Langdon earned an historic first Potomac Nationals Diamond Wally trophy after winning his final race by a single-inch margin.
NHRA is heading to New England this coming weekend.
As the summer starts to heat up, so too does the competition within the NHRA, and the top racers are heading to New England this weekend to face off at the New England Dragway. In the Top Fuel category, Shawn Langdon leads with a total of 722 points based on his win last weekend at the Maryland International Raceway, while teammate Doug Kalitta sits in second currently with 646 points, and Leah Pruett is in the third-place slot. Will there be another “photo finish” in store this coming Sunday?
Stay tuned, race fans – you may be in for another fast, really fast treat.
