Coming to Pacific Raceways evokes sentiment for top fuel driver Shawn Langdon as well as one of his crew members, Wes Barber.

Langdon is fond of the Northwest Nationals because it’s the first place he got a national event win in Sportsman racing in 2002.

Barber, who has been working as a crew member for a variety of National Hot Rod Association nitro teams since 2003, is looking forward to coming home — he was born and raised in Kent and graduated from Kent-Meridian High in 1995.

His job working on Langdon’s race car involves working on the cylinder heads. It’s his first year with Langdon, but he had previously worked for Morgan Lucas Racing with the other car on the team driven by Morgan Lucas.

Barber, though, didn’t start out working on race cars.

“I grew up racing dirt bikes out there at Pacific Raceways,” he said. “I went on to race those professionally for a few years.”

Some injuries, however, sidelined him from racing dirt bikes, but he knew some people in the drag racing world and pursued the possibility of becoming a crew member.

“I knew the best thing would be to work on race cars,” he said.

He started working in drag racing in 2000 with John Force Racing, owned by nitro funny car legend John Force, the most winning driver in the class with 14 world titles. Barber left after the 2003 season.

“I worked on Tony Pedregon’s car in 2003 with John Medlen and Dickie Venebles,” Barber said.

It was a team he won a championship with in 2003 and then he followed Pedregon when he left JFR to start his own operation and worked with him in 2004 and 2005.

From there he spent 18 months with Morgan Lucas’ crew until the birth of his twins, a boy and a girl, in August 2007.

After becoming a dad, Barber decided to work a bit less, and spent some time back on Pedregon’s crew when the driver won his second funny car title in 2007.

“I actually just got back on with Morgan Lucas Racing at the beginning of this year,” Barber said.

It seemed to work out perfectly, though, Langdon added.

“Last year our cylinder guy ended up quitting… (due to) wanting to slow down a little bit,” Langdon said. “Wes had actually worked for Morgan Lucas Racing before. So, when the cylinder head job became available … we thought it would be a great fit. He’s a great asset on the team.”

Langdon said Barber’s experience with Force Racing has been helpful because “he learned a lot over there. He brings a little bit more to the table.”

Langdon is glad one of his crew members gets a chance to visit home because the NHRA season schedule can be grueling. There are 23 events on the schedule which runs from late February to mid-November.

Teams wrapped up a series of four straight races before getting the Independence Day weekend off and will be racing three straight starting this weekend as the Seattle race kicks off the Western Swing.

“It’s hard. You’re on the road 23 weekends a year,” Langdon said. “Sometimes we go three or four weeks at a time. We’re currently in a nine week swing and we’re racing seven of them.”

So, getting to race in Barber’s home town means a lot to the driver.

“It’s a great feeling because we have a lot of great guys on our team, so, when they have their families there, you can see the pride on their mom’s and dad’s facies,” Langdon said. “We’re trying to get that win for a lot of different reasons, but, that’s one of the main reasons.”

With more than half the season’s races under the team’s collective belt, Langdon said, the Western Swing is where you can put to use everything you’ve learned as a team thus far.

“It’s a good race trace, it’s a great facility, it’s the start of the Western Swing,” he said. “It’s definitely a place where you want to start your momentum.”

With only four races between the end of the Western Swing and the national event in Indianapolis in early September, where the cut off for the Countdown to the Championship begins and the top 10 teams in each pro class begin to vie for the season title, it is important for drivers to position themselves for the Countdown during this trio of events.

Plus with Langdon, who is in his second season in a top fuel dragster, seeking his first win at this level it would be sweet to get a win here.

“For me, I always hold a special place (for Pacific Raceways),” he said. “It’s a special feeling when you go back there. Every time you pull into the track, you relive that moment.”

For Barber, who is looking forward to seeing his mother and grandmother, this is the only opportunity for him to get home all year.

“I miss it, it’s beautiful country,” he said.

And Barber wouldn’t mind helping the crew and Langdon get this first victory in top fuel at the track he grew up going to — his dad started taking him to national events at Pacific Raceways back when it was known as Seattle International Raceways in 1982.

“We’re very competitive, but, we’re not producing wins,” Barber said. “Hopefully we can provide a better car for Shawn, who is one of the better drivers available. He has one of the best reaction times for anybody in the class.”

It’s all a matter of getting the dragster to do what the teams wants.

“We know we have the potential to win,” Langdon said. “We’re not missing anything. We know we have all the pieces of the puzzle, we’re just trying to put that puzzle together.”

Barber said Lucas Racing is a great team to work for because “they’re patient and understanding.”

“These things are very sensitive,” Barber said. “Every single car is different. They’ve all got their own personalities.”

No matter what happens, Barber is excited to get back to Pacific Raceways.

“I look forward to getting up there and seeing Mount Rainier in the background,” Barber said. “It’s pretty awesome.”

And what might make it even more awesome? A win at a place that holds special memories for Barber and Langdon.