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.
