Long-Shot No More: Johanna Wins First SLM Race at Five Flags
16-Year-Old Joins Dad Donald as Blizzard Series Victor and Takes another Podium at Mobile
But as the raucus crowd at Five Flags Speedway Friday night could attest, Johanna Long is anything but a long-shot to win when she hops into the seat of her Panhandle Motorsports #10 Super Late Model and it showed in the Amp Energy 100 Blizzard Series season opener. Long blistered the track record in qualifying and paced herself in the race to score the victory, much to the delight of the local fans in the grandstands – many of whom were decked out in Johanna’s t-shirts.
“It was great to win my first Super Late Model race at my home track,” said Long. “I’ve been watching my dad (Donald Long) race this place for years. I’ve always wanted to be good in a Blizzard race. This was only my third Blizzard race, so I’m pretty happy.”
Long is a former Pro Late Model winner at Five Flags and the defending PLM track champion herself, but winning in a Super Late Model at the home of the Snowball Derby, Five Flags Speedway, was a memory that the youngster will not soon forget.
“Winning a Pro race is cool, but you’re mostly racing with guys that are just starting out. Running a Super race, especially one of these Blizzard races, you’re racing against the best of the best.”
Long looked like anything but a 16-year-old high school student behind the wheel on Friday night. She skillfully worked her way to the front of the field, chasing early leader Casey Smith until making the move for the lead shortly after halfway. After a pit stop later in the race, only two drivers stood in her way for victory: two-time Snowball Derby Champion Augie Grill and Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Ryan Lawler.
Long maneuvered her way by both drivers and back into the lead with 20 laps to go. As the laps clicked off, Long inched closer and closer to her first Super Late Model victory.
“Every lap, Freddie (Query, Long’s Crew Chief) would be like, ‘Five to go. Four to go.’ Then the lapped cars kept coming up and on the last lap he told me not to take any chances. I didn’t need to pass those cars, so he just told me to stay behind them and I did.”
Long had little time to celebrate her first victory, as the following night, she and the entire #10 team were in Mobile, Alabama, at Mobile International Speedway for the first Miller Lite Super Late Model event of the 2009 season. While the Panhandle doubleheader could have meant two victories, Long found herself just a few positions short of the twin-win weekend in third.
“I kind of messed up in qualifying and qualified ninth, but that still wasn’t too bad,” said Long of her Mobile race. “I made my way up to fourth and the car was really tight. We came in and made a couple changes and I was back up to fourth again. The car wasn’t the best, but it was still really good.
“Bubba (Pollard, Mobile winner) had a good car, so I don’t know if we could’ve beaten him, plus Lawler (second-place) had a good car too and I think if we had a couple more laps we could’ve maybe beaten him. Still, a first and a third in one weekend is still pretty good.”
Outsiders may have considered the chances for 16-year-old Johanna Long to win the first Blizzard Series Super Late Model event of the 2009 season at Pensacola, Florida’s Five Flags Speedway slim. The Blizzard Series features the top talents of the Super Late Model world, with NASCAR development drivers and former series and track champions from across the country competing in the five-race schedule, so those who don’t know about the high school Sophomore, making her third-career Blizzard start, may not have given her much of a chance.
Johanna Long in Victory Lane after her Blizzard series win. (51 Sports Photo)
