Lucas Oil/Speedco Top Fuel professional Shawn Langdon

Young drivers in the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series are desperate to show they belong among the best in the sport. For Top Fuel driver Shawn Langdon, it only took a fraction of a second.

In just two years of racing his Lucas Oil/Speedco Top Fuel dragster for Morgan Lucas Racing, Langdon has already assumed the title of the best leaver in the sport. Not even Santa Claus is as good as Langdon when it comes to the Christmas Tree.

"I’ve always taken a lot of pride in my reaction times," Langdon said. "It's the biggest way I can directly contribute to winning rounds and races. In NASCAR they say that 'To finish first, you must first finish.' Well, in NHRA, I think that to finish first, you need to start first."

Langdon led the class in overall reaction time in 2010 with a stellar .052-second average start. He also led the way in leaving first on his opponents, putting together several long steaks of lethal launches. In 47 elimination round races, Langdon left ahead of the other racer 40.5 times, a success ratio of 86 percent.

What makes him so killer at the line? For starters, he appears to be naturally gifted with quick-twitch muscles. He's also done a great job at honing his God-given skills in the NHRA's Sportsman classes, where leaving first determines winners and losers even more often than at the pro level.

And Langdon has won a lot in those classes. He has three world championships to his credit, first winning a Junior Dragster title in 1997 and then adding back-to-back Super Comp championships in 2007 and 2008. His trophy case is full of Wallys from his Junior Dragster, Super Comp, and Super Gas exploits, which is complimented by plenty of high-dollar bracket racing trophies.

Even as a pro, Langdon hasn't strayed very far from his Sportsman roots. He can usually be found sharpening his skills on off weekends and, when the schedule allows, during national events themselves. In fact, he won the Super Gas title at both Indy and Sonoma in 2010.

It could be argued that Langdon’s quick trigger at the starting line helped him earn his initial ride with Morgan Lucas Racing in 2009, and he had a solid rookie season. He reached the finals in Charlotte and the semifinals in seven other events en route to a ninth-place finish in the points standings.

The 2010 season was even better, with two final-round appearances in the last four races of the season, at Dallas and Pomona. Langdon ended up fifth in the Top Fuel standings, with those two runner-up results coupled with five semifinal-round appearances.

"We’ve got a lot of optimism for our future, with Morgan coming on strong at the end of last year, too," Langdon said. "I think 2011 will be a great year for us. I just need to keep doing what I've been doing and everything else will fall into place."