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LANGDON WINS ALL-TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINAL AT WINTERNATIONALS

FEBRUARY 8, 2015

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 8, 2015) – Shawn Langdon defeated Antron Brown in an all-Toyota Top Fuel final to cap off a dominating weekend in winning the Circle K NHRA Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Sunday.

Langdon registered the quickest pass in five of the seven rounds run this weekend, including the quickest pass in NHRA history with a 3.700 in qualifying on Saturday. In today’s eliminations, he defeated Steve Chrisman, Leah Pritchett and Spencer Massey before matching up with fellow Toyota driver Brown in the finals. The victory was his second Winternationals crown in the last three years. It also marked the 11th time a Toyota Top Fuel team has won in the last 12 races at the Auto Club Raceway and was Toyota’s 107th win in NHRA competition.

“I don’t even know where to begin,” said Langdon, who grew up in nearby Mira Loma. “Talk about ups and downs over the last month. Our team never stopped working at the shop. We needed to come out here and make a statement. What better way to do that than run the quickest pass in NHRA history, earn the number one qualifier and then win the race.”

Brown fell just short of earning his third Pomona win by defeating Tony Schumacher, Doug Kalitta and Larry Dixon on the way to the finals. His 3.732 run in his opening round victory was the quickest of the day. Richie Crampton, the 2014 Rookie of the Year, advanced to the second round.

In Funny Car, Del Worsham led the way for Toyota by advancing to today’s semi-finals. Worsham’s DHL Camry registered five runs of 4.08 or better on the weekend in six passes down the track. He defeated Chad Head and Courtney Force in the first two rounds before narrowly falling to eventual winner Matt Hagan in the semi-finals.

Cruz Pedregon, Tony Pedregon, Head and Alexis DeJoria all lost in the opening round today in Funny Car.

The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series resumes with the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in Phoenix, Feb. 20-22.

Toyota Drivers NHRA Winternationals Results
Top Fuel Car Qual/Fin.
Shawn Langdon Al-Anabi Racing Toyota Top Fuel Dragster 1/Winner
Antron Brown Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster 11/Finals
Richie Crampton GEICO/Lucas Oil Toyota Top Fuel Dragster 2/RD. 2
Funny Car Car Qual/Fin.
Del Worsham DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car 8/Semis
Cruz Pedregon Snap-on Tolls Toyota Camry Funny Car 4/Rd. 1
Tony Pedregon Mark Christopher Auto Car Toyota Camry Funny Car 5/Rd. 1
Chad Head Head Racing Toyota Camry Funny Car 9/Rd. 1
Alexis DeJoria Patrόn XO Café Toyota Camry Funny Car 11/Rd. 1

Toyota Winternationals Post-Race, 2-2-2-2

2015 Toyota NHRA Winners (1):
Top Fuel (1): Langdon (1),

2015 Toyota Number One Qualifiers (1):
Top Fuel (1): Langdon (1), Pomona1

Notes:

- Today’s victory was Shawn Langdon’s second at the Winternationals and his third Top Fuel win at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona – both previous triumphs coming during his championship season in 2013. It marks his 10th career Top Fuel win.

- Shawn Langdon’s dominating weekend featured him running the quick time in five of seven rounds during the weekend and being second in a sixth. After Antron Brown was quick in today’s opening round, Langdon registered low time in the final three rounds, as well as in two of the three qualifying sessions run on the weekend – including the quickest pass in NHRA history with a 3.700 in Saturday’s qualifying session on the way to being the number one qualifier.

- Shawn Langdon’s Winternationals-winning Toyota Top Fuel dragster was sponsored today by Knuckle Sandwich, owned by renowned chef Guy Fieri, host of the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”

- Alan Johnson Racing has now won three consecutive Winternationals and four in the last six years. In addition to Shawn Langdon winning today’s race, Khalid alBalooshi won in 2014, Langdon in 2013 and Larry Dixon in 2010.

- Antron Brown advanced to the final round today, marking his 55th Top Fuel final and his 88th in Mello Yello Drag Racing Series competition.

- Today’s victory was the 11th in the last 12 races at Pomona for a Toyota Top Fuel dragster. It is the 107th for a Toyota-affiliated NHRA team.

- Del Worsham advanced to today’s semi-finals in Funny Car. Worsham registered three 4.08-second or quicker passes today and ran 4.08 or under in five of six passes on the weekend, including two 4.04s, two 4.06s and his 4.08.

Quotes:

Antron Brown, Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel dragster: "That was definitely a tough one. We wanted to hit it right and we just missed it by a little bit. Still, hats off to my boys because they did a great job. It was such a close race and we’ll get ’em next time. The good thing is, we’ve got a lot more momentum leaving here than we did last year, so we’re absolutely happy about that and we’re not going to hang our heads. I just wish we could’ve brought it home. Man, we really wanted that win. We’ve been close in the Winternationals here so many times, and this was the closest we’ve ever been to bringing it home. But it was still a great weekend.”

Toyota Winternationals Post-race, 3-3-3-3

Del Worsham, DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car: “It was a good weekend. We made six passes overall and five were 4.08 or under. I’m real excited to pick up where we left off last season with the DHL Toyota. The whole Kalitta Motorsports team did a great job. All the hard work everyone has put in over the last two years is really starting to payoff.”

Alexis DeJoria, Patron XO Café” Toyota Camry Funny Car: “Qualifying was kind of like my shakedown runs since we didn’t test during the off-season, but we made a good solid run during Q2 that got us into the field. Today, it was just one of those things. Capps and his team did a good job as well. He just beat me by a little bit on the starting line. We both had really good runs, going all the way down the track, it just wasn’t enough to get that first round win of the season. We have another race in two weeks. We’re returning to Phoenix as the defending champions and hopefully we can back that up and pick up our first 2015 win out there.”

Cruz Pedregon, Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry Funny Car: “It was a good weekend, but on race day we just tried to go too fast on a race track that couldn’t hold it. It’s on me, but I believe we are going to come into Phoenix as the car to beat.”

Top Fuel Championship Points Behind Leader (124)
1. Shawn Langdon 124 - --
2. Antron Brown 92 - 32
6. Richie Crampton 59 - 65
Funny Car Championship Points Behind Leader (107)
3. Del Worsham 74 - 33
10. Cruz Pedregon 38 - 69
11. Chad Head 35 - 72
12. Tony Pedregon 34 - 73
13. Alexis DeJoria 33 - 74


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