Alan Johnson Racing, Points Leader Shawn Langdon Will Race NHRA Season’s Third Event in Gainesville, Fla. - Speedway Digest

Alan Johnson Racing and Top Fuel points leader Shawn Langdon will compete in this weekend’s Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, the team announced today. The third race of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season is set for March 13-15 at Auto Plus Raceway in Gainesville, Fla.

2013 NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Champion Shawn Langdon won the season’s opening race last month in the Knuckle Sandwich/AJPE Toyota dragster. He qualified No. 1 when he posted the quickest pass in NHRA history, and with the win, he qualified for the Traxxas Nitro Shootout at Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend. The team moved on to the second race in Phoenix, advanced to the semifinals and maintained its points lead. Although still searching for sponsorship after unexpectedly losing its funding a month before the 2015 season began, team owner Alan Johnson made the decision to race in the season’s third event.

“We made the commitment to compete in the first two races of the season to demonstrate to potential sponsors what our team can accomplish,” Johnson said. “We did that with a great performance at the season-opening Winternationals, and we take the points lead into Gainesville. That says a lot about our race team and the commitment our guys have made in the face of a very difficult situation. Our marketing staff, along with our new strategic marketing partner Guy Fieri and his Knuckle Sandwich group, has been at work trying to secure funding, but we understand this process is difficult and time consuming.

“Racing the entire season and competing for the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello world championship is still our goal. We are racing in Gainesville to provide a little more time to put a program together that will allow us to do that. We enter every race with the goal of winning it, and we are going to Gainesville with every intention of winning the Gatornationals.”

Alan Johnson Racing, located in Brownsburg, Ind., won NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel world championships in 1997, ’98, 2000, ‘10, ’11 and ’13. Alan Johnson has won 11 NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel World Championships with five different drivers: Gary Scelzi, Tony Schumacher, Larry Dixon, Del Worsham and Shawn Langdon; he is a 15-time NHRA national champion. For additional information on Alan Johnson Racing and driver Shawn Langdon, please visit alanjohnsonracing.com; get Alan Johnson Racing news through its Facebook page or on Twitter: @AJRTopFuel.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.