“Getting back in the dragster after two years was a matter of getting mentally caught up with the car and how much quicker they accelerate in the first 300 feet,” he said. “Once I got the hang of that, the biggest thing was slowing my steering down at the top end.
“It’s been a little bit of a learning curve just to get back into driving the dragster properly. But for the short amount of time and the few races this year, I feel the team has worked well on making the proper changes.”
Langdon discovered after the 2019 season that he would be making the move. After his car was adjusted to fit his preferences, he did some testing at the end of January before the season started Feb. 6. The NHRA was able to run two events before shutting down due to the coronavirus.
Langdon has reached the finals at 44 events in his career, winning 23. Once he gave up baseball, which generated some college scholarship offers, he targeted a career in racing.
The one-time pitcher knew his arm wasn’t going to make it in baseball after he pitched five innings for his high school team and returned to the mound that night to pitch a complete game in an all-star game. However, he did get one opportunity to throw in a major league stadium, tossing the first pitch at a Cardinals game in 2014.
By that time he was given a chance to make that pitch at Busch Stadium, Langdon already had reached the top of the NHRA. Then came the decision to switch to Funny Cars where he said “every run challenged me.”