Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel), Jack Beckman (Funny Car), Alex Laughlin (Pro Stocks) and Jerry Savoie (Pro Stock Motorcyles) were all winners at the 5th annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park.
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Antron Brown has owned the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports, winning last four years.
“This is Antron’s track,” said Langdon. “I’m happy to take it away.”
For Shawn Langdon it was his first win and second final round appearance at St. Louis.
“I love this place,” explained Langdon. “But I never do good. It is nice to check it off the list.”
Langdon really had an uphill battle to the Gateway event championship. He had to face his teammate and points leader, Antron Brown, in the first round and then in quarter finals round he beat second in points, Doug Kalitta.
“Its never really easy,” said Langdon describing racing top points leaders and his teammate Brown. “At the end of day, we are all out to race for ourselves.
Langdon wins his third Wally this year and the 14th in his career. Langdon with the win moved up to the number four spot in Countdown points standings.
For the runner up, Tony “Sarge” Schumacher, it is his second runner up win of the year and his last win was in Indianapolis earlier this year. He has won at Gateway in 2006 and 2010. He leaves Gateway third in points.
“Fast” Jack Beckman out lasted Tommy Johnson for the Funny Car crown at Gateway. Johnson had the lead at the start but slowed down shortly thereafter giving Beckman the relatively easy win. For Beckman it was his second victory of the year, winning earlier at Chicago.
“We swept Illinois,” exclaimed Beckman. “Everyone win is special”
The win moved him into third in countdown to the season championship.
“We are struggling tuning up the car,” said Beckman. “Yes we won. We need to figure how to make it more consistent.”
The signature win came in the second round when he barely beat John Force at the finish line.
“To beat Babe Ruth [John Force] is never a bad thing,” said Beckman. “He will probably go down as the greatest ever in NHRA racing.”
This was Beckman’s 24th career win. He won his first win also against Tommy Johnson.
Alex Laughlin picked up the Pro Stock win in his first try in a Sunday final. For Bo Butner it is the sixth time he has been to the finals without a victory. Laughlin won at the start with .009 reaction to .037 for Butner.
“This is as good as it gets,” said Laughlin describing his professional Pro Stock first victory.
Laughlin is a rookie driver and did not make the countdown championship and now is just running to get experience and prepare him for next year. To get to the victory Sunday Laughlin had to knock out some of the top competitors in NHRA season points Countdown championship.
“They didn’t take it easy on me earlier in the season,” said Laughlin when asked about being a spoiler drivers in Countdown points championship.
Even though Bo Butner has not won in Pro Stock finals, his efforts still helped him because he moved up a spot to third in the season championship points standings.
Angelle Sampey red lighted at the start line giving Jerry Savoie his 5th career win and first win since Dallas 2015.
Savoie is an alligator farmer in Louisiana and is used to some hot humid weather and did not think it was an issue at the race today.
“It [Weather] was not perfect,” said Savoie. “We were off a bit. Sometimes you need some luck.”
Savoie did not feel the weather impacted the track.
“NHRA, Gateway Motorsports, always do a great job on the track,” said Savoie. “The track was really smooth.”
Savoie also won at Gateway in 2014. This was his first win of the year after have a career-best three wins last year. The win moved him into fourth in points.
Sampey is the winningest female drive in NHRA history and has three career wins at Gateway Motorsports Park. She is now in second place for the season championship.
Story by Kevin Proot
Photos by Larry Vancil
St. Louis Motor Racing News / stlracing.com