Breakthrough Nationwide Driver of the Year

           

            NASCAR racing as a whole has been a male dominated sport from top to bottom; there is no question about it. A few females have broken through the gender gap, and have had success in stock car racing. Names like Janet Guthrie, Shawna Robinson, Patty Moise, Tammy Jo Kirk, and Danica Patrick. No, this article isn't about Danica Patrick, even though I am a big fan of her driving style, but she has a lot to learn in a stock car. This article is about a young girl from Pensacola, Florida. This driver's name is Johanna Long.

Johanna Long celebrating her 2010 Snowball Derby Victory. Photo from 5flagsspeedway.com.

           

            I first started to pay attention to Johanna Long during the 2011 truck race at Atlanta. She was a good looking girl, and she was working her way up in the ranks. Unfortunately she had an accident during that race, and finished 31st. Just being the way I am, I started to do some research on her racing resume, and pedigree and she is quite impressive already at the young age of 20. At age 15 she was the youngest and first female track champion at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. This track is famous with the Pro Late Model crowd in being the site of the prestigious Snowball Derby. 2008 was the first year that she raced in the Snowball Derby as well. 2009 was a banner year for Johanna as well. She tallied 5 wins, 18 top fives, and 27 top tens in 38 races across the southeast. That is amazing, especially when you think about all the guys who are putting a bulls eye on her back, and trying their hardest to not get beaten by a female. In 2009, she would also win the pole for the Snowball Derby, and made her first two starts in the ARCA series.

Johanna Long in her ML Motorsports #70 at Kentucky Speedway. Photo from Getty Images from Zimbio.com.



            2010 for Johanna was probably one of the best years in her young career in my opinion, until 2012. Johanna was the Snowball Derby Champion at Five Flags Speedway. If you are unfamiliar with this race, let me give you some of the finishers from the finishing order. Landon Cassill finished 4th, David Stremme-13th, Casey Roderick-16th, Chase Elliott-17th, Ross Kenseth-19th, Grant Enfinger-20th, Cale Gale-21st, Ryan Sieg-26th, and David Ragan-27th. These drivers are either in NASCAR's top three series (Trucks, Nationwide, or Sprint Cup), or on their way with Chase Elliott, and Ross Kenseth. This race routinely attracts top NASCAR stars, notable in the massive list of past winners including Kyle Busch, Steven Wallace, Rich Bickle Jr., Jeff Purvis, Tammy Jo Kirk, Rick Crawford, Ted Musgrave, and Darrell Waltrip.

2010 Snowball Derby 3-way fight between Stremme, Cassill, and Long.





            Let’s fast forward to 2011 and 2012. 2011 brought her a best finish in the Craftsman Truck series of 11th at Texas, and a best start of 5th at Daytona in only 17 starts. I feel her best year to date has been 2012. She has made 19 starts this year for ML Motorsports in the #70 Chevrolet. She has started a best of 8th at Richmond, and finished 12th twice at Daytona and Kentucky. Considering the budget this team operates on, she along with the small number of team members get the absolute most out of what they have. I am glad that everyone is taking notice of what she is doing from the commentators at least. Kyle Petty gave her a shout out today during practice at Texas, which triggered this blog post. Johanna needs to make a bet with Kyle Busch to get a ride in either his Craftsman Truck, or his Nationwide car. Maybe the Snowball Derby this year? I can only hope a big name ride will become available to her, because with the talent she has behind the wheel, I think she can knockdown some wins and possibly fight for a championship one day. Only time will tell, keep an eye out for her. Check out johannalong.comfor more information on Johanna. If you are on twitter, follow her @JOHANNALONG. Also, you should check out SPEED51.com for more information about short track racing around the country, including the 45th Snowball Derby from Five Flags Speedway on Nov. 28th - Dec. 2nd. Bob Dillner (@bobdillner) owns and runs the website, and is also an awesome on air personality for all things NASCAR on Speed. Until next time.

Landon Cassill (@landoncassill) after the 2010 Snowball Derby. This guy is nothing but class, even if he doesn’t wash his jeans.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surfing Kangaroos in the Concrete Canyon - Australian V8 Supercars

Opening lap wreck with Grand-Am standout Ricky Taylor at the wheel. Picture from V8Supercars.com.au

                I have talked about the Australian V8 Supercar series in some of my last posts, so I figured I would give them a dedicated posting. Speed has a tape delay on these races, and it finally aired Saturday night. The race happened at Surfer's Paradise in the Gold Coast of Australia. The track is known as the Concrete Canyon to the drivers. They really know how to put on a show, as the picture I opened up the post with shows. This race is known as an Enduro, each team has their normal driver, but they get a co-driver from outside the series. Greg Ritter is the normal driver of the car shown in the picture above, and his co-driver was Ricky Taylor. He races Daytona Prototypes in the Grand-Am series.

Ricky Taylor's Grand-Am Daytona Prototype SunTrust Corvette. Picture from autoweek.com.

                 The story behind the picture above is that the V8 Supercar guys use a standing start to begin the race. Think Formula 1, where everyone is sitting on the grid, and once the lights go out, it's time to go. Well since the international drivers start the race, and most aren't used to this, some people stalled. When this happened, it instantly created a gridlock. Here is the highlight video from V8Supercarofficial's YouTube channel. You can also see the second try at the standing start, and more chaos. Other than Juan Montoya hitting the jet-dryer at Daytona, where have you seen this much excitement in racing?



 

                Before you say it, the international drivers can drive. Here is the list and in parenthesis are their background: Nick Heidfield(F1), Marco Andretti(Indy Car), Darren Turner(DTM/Lemans), Sebastian Bourdais(F1, Indy Car, Grand-Am, LeMans), Richard Lyons(SuperGT), Mika Salo(F1), Simon Pagenaud(ALMS), Jeroen Bleekmolen(Porsche Supercup), David Brabham(GT1), Graham Rahal(Indy Car), Frank Montagny(F1), Justin Wilson(Indy Car), Ryan Briscoe(Indy Car), Will Power(Indy Car), Stephane Sarrazin(LeMans), Gianni Morbidelli(F1), Nicolas Minassian(LeMans/Indy Car), Max Papis (F1/Indy Car/NASCAR), Peter Kox(DTM/BTCC), Jamie Campbell-Walter(FIA GT), Peter Dumbreck(LeMans/DTM), Mike Conway(Indy Car), Ricky Taylor(Grand-Am), James Hinchcliffe(Indy Car), Boris Said(NASCAR/Grand-am), Marc Lieb(LeMans), Lucas Di Grassi(F1), Tonio Liuzzi(Superstar Series). As you can see, many forms of motorsport are represented, and they all are very talented. Unfortunately NASCAR is in season, so we can't showcase our stars in this race. I'm sure Marcos Ambrose would love to make a return, and take some friends such as Juan Montoya, Brad Keselowski, and maybe even Carl Edwards. I was sold on the driving talent of these guys when I was watching an earlier race and Jacques Villeneuve was filling in for an injured driver. He drove three races, and was towards the back for everyone. That guy jumps in a Nationwide car, and battles for the win, but can't even break into the top-20 against their guys, come on now.

                I have gone on long enough, but at least I have filled this one with a ton of pictures, and video for you to look at. The Australian V8 Supercar guys put on some awesome racing that has all the bumping, banging, and mirrors flying that lends itself to some exciting racing. I am planning the trip to Austin in May 2013 to see these guys in action, and I can't wait. One of my friends going, who was part of the Lexington Goat Herd, which was our group of friends who owned GTOs. She is convinced that we can steal a Holden while we are there. Check for us on the news, you may see a 5 foot nothing girl, followed by a 300 pound guy being locked away for it. I'll leave you with a video of 3-time Winston Cup Champion Darrell Waltrip and his ride in a V8Supercar from last year. He talks a lot when he is scared, and as you can tell he won't shut up. Until next time.