If you follow my blog, more than likely you know how much I love up-and-coming drivers. More especially, I love to get the word out there when they're from Alabama. This one is even sweeter because she is a young lady. We need more women drivers in racing to actually break through and make it to the top!
You might have heard about Alli Owens and her great runs in the ARCA series this year running for D'Hondt Motorsports. I have been happy for her and have written about her before.
Another young lady, Ms. Johanna Long, will be making her ARCA debut this weekend running for Venturini Motorsports in the #25 at Iowa Speedway.
"We got a phone call from Billy Venturini," Johanna said. "He asked us if we wanted to race at Iowa because he had no one in the car. That was such a good offer that we couldn't turn it down. They're probably one of the best ARCA teams out there."
"I'm not going to lie: I'm a little nervous about it. But what I want to do is get in the car and make it feel like a regular old Mobile race on Saturday night."
(quote credits: AL.com article )
Ms. "Jo" Long is a second generation racer following in the footsteps of her dad, Donald Long. Johanna has been racing Super Late Models in the Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida region. Jo is actually from Pensacola, but trust me, that is close enough to Alabama that we'll claim her. Johanna just won a race at 5 Flags Speedway on June 27, 2009 in the Blizzard series. This is probably why she got the call from Mr. Venturini.
Ms. Long has a great opportunity this weekend, in great equipment. I hope she can capitalize on this open door and get her name out there. Maybe even give Ms. Owens and the "big boys" a run for their money.
Good luck, Ms. Long. I'll be following you and hoping to see you in NASCAR soon.
14 comments:
Go Jo! Woot Girl-power!
You always do such a great job showcasing new talent Lori...thanks!
Thank you missy! Woot :)
She looks like a nice girl. Hope she has fun and does well in the race!
Thanks CR, me too.
Well it would certainly be in bad taste if I din't pull for her too, considering she is from my old stomping grounds (Pensacola).Maybe We should sponser her?
Mr. Photogr, maybe we should. She ran in the top 10 in practice today and I'm having good vibes about her for the race :)
Lori, great article on Johanna Long. It's refreshing to see new talent rise through the ranks. I'm wishing her the best in the ARCA race this weekend.
Great job!
Nice one, Lori.
Good luck to Jo at Iowa, and in the future. Would love for her to show up Logano in that 25 car...lol
Claim Pensacola? I thought tri-cities was all Alabama. lol
Well how did she do Mrs. Hotfoot? Did she do well? Hope that she did.
It is nice to see young drivers male or female get an opportunity to drive for good owners in good equipment.
Thanks Jon & Gene.
Ann, she did pretty well for her debut. Qualified 7th I think, practiced in top 10 on Friday. Was running in the top ten until about lap 60 or something, then got caught up in a wreck. Think she still finished in like 23rd or something. I just hope we hear a lot more of her in the future.
Sounds like she was having a good night. Well hopefully she will be able to do more ARCA races.
Great pick up and post. It is great to see you posting again. I get use to this format soon and not be so late commenting on your post's.
Heck I don't mind females driving in cup.lol
Cheers2You
Nice article Lori. Enjoyed it! I would have liked to see the race she was in.
Thanks Forensic! I'm still getting used to coming here instead of FoxSports, myself :)
Thanks Larry. Me too.
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