Johanna Long is Ready to Double Up on Snowball Derby Weekend
Teen Racer Aims For Success in Snowflake 100 and Snowball Derby
competed in both events and she now knows what it takes to find success in each.
“Last year was my first year running the Super [Late Model] race,” explained Long. “So running both of them last year for the first time was a lot of stress on me. Fortunately, I knew that I was already in the Snowflake last year so the main stress was on getting into the Derby. I think this year it’s going to be the same because I’m already in the Derby. Of course, I want to be on the pole and I want to be up there to get out of all the trouble that seems to happen further back. So getting a good spot in the Derby is just going to be my main priority, to get out front in qualifying and stay out front. But we’ve also got to stay focused and definitely work hard to make it in the Snowflake because we don’t have a guaranteed spot in that one this year.”
This year, Long knows that she’s going to have to keep her mind set on both races as she will have the opportunity that some Derby drivers won’t have to gauge track conditions for Sunday by racing on Saturday night.
“The Super [Late Model] and the Pro [Late Model] are a little bit different,” explained Long. “But the racing is the same and I’ll get more experience on what the track’s going to be like on Sunday by paying attention on Saturday night and planning ahead for the Derby, in the Snowflake.”
There is no doubt that if teenage phenom Long were to find her way to victory lane on Snowball Derby weekend her extensive local fan base would make it a night to remember in the young girl’s life.
“It would really be awesome,” said Long. “It would be a big dream come true definitely for me. Being from down here and growing up watching these races and now seeing the support that people give me in the stands would be amazing. Plus, there are guys out there that have been running the Derby for ten to fifteen years and for it to be my second year and win it, that would be really big.”
If there is one driver pulling double duty in both the Snowball Derby and the Snowflake 100 this year that has the momentum to win both races, it is probably 17-year old Johanna Long.
Long, who is a Pensacola native, knows her way around the track as she has won both the Blizzard Super Late Model Championship as well as the Pro Late Model Championship in the past two years.
2008 was the first year Long
