Friday at Five Flags Speedway, 2010 Snowball Derby winner and hometown heroine of Pensacola, Johanna Long ran in the 100-lap Allen Turner Hyundai Pro Late Model season-opening race. Long placed seventh out of 22 in the series and accumulated 82 points.
Early on, Long said she was asked a lot about being a female in the male-dominated sport of stock car racing, but after building a strong career, she said, “Now I feel like I’ve raced so much I’ve gained respect from the drivers so a lot of people don’t ask me that anymore, which is a good thing.” Notably, two years after her championship Snowball Derby run, she became the youngest female to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Despite talent and time overshadowing her gender in racing, Long said she still appreciates the girls and women fans.
“When they see female drivers, they want to get involved. Even female fans, the older people, like to root for girls. It’s really cool to see that and more female fans come out to the races and support us, but mainly be a part of racing. They love it and for a fan to love racing as much as I do and love the sport, it’s really cool to see.”
Long said she followed her father into racing, but never said he pushed her into it. “I tried ballet, gymnastics, softball. I did it all. We went to a go-kart race and (he) let me try it out and I haven’t looked back ever sense. I just loved it. I love going fast. I love the competition. I love just getting better every single weekend…and competing.”
In an interview with ESPNW, Long said problems with updating the car her team planned to run to meet NASCAR certification kept her out this year. Speaking Saturday, she said her dream is getting back into NASCAR. “That was a really fun journey for me. To see it end was really disheartening, (but I’m) working to get back. If it happens, it's going to be awesome. If it doesn't, I can say I've raced in NASCAR before. It changed my life and I learned a lot of things along the way. In life in general, I think I'm a better person going thru whole journey.”
Racing at her home track, Long said Five Flags means a lot to her, to see it grow. She said she was glad to see her hometown fans and to work with the people who have been with her since she was 13 years old.
In other local racing news, Shanna Ard from Milton took the checkered flag in Saturday’s Sportsmen feature. Gary Sutton from Milton placed second in Super Stocks. Finally, Wayne Niedecken, Jr. placed fifth in Long’s feature while on Mother’s Day, Niedecken had a tearful victory at the Mobile International Speedway since his mother had passed away just within the previous week.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Racer hit home track Friday