As more and more women start to enter the sport, it is important to take a look back and see how the path was cut. One such trailblazer, is Johanna Long (now Johanna Robbins). Long, while not necessarily a household name, is one of these select women that had the greatest potential. While staying out of the spotlight occupied by Danica Patrick around this time, Long quietly put together many great runs during her run in NASCAR’s Truck and Nationwide Series career.
Pre-Stock Car Career:
Johanna Long’s motorsports aspirations began at an early age, as her father raced late models in Florida. When Long hit the age of 8, she was allowed to begin her dream racing karts, and eventually moved into Legends cars. Following her Legends run, Johanna began running late models at the age of 12. Her list of accomplishments during this time include winning the 2008 Gulf Coast Championship, as well as the track championship for late models at Five Flags Speedway.
Stock-Car Career Beginnings:Â
From 2009 to 2010, Long’s success was enough help her gain some notice from national touring series team owners. Long made her official stock car starts in the ARCA Series in 2009, running two races. Running races at Iowa and Rockingham, Johanna Long made her debut in #25 Chevrolet for Venturini Motorsports. The races went well as Iowa resulted in a 23rd place finish, while Long collected a 29th place for Eddie D’Hondt’s team in Rockingham in the #19 Toyota.
Long also had an impressive showing in the 2009 Snowball Derby, as she would win the pole and finish 18th.
2010 saw Long move to the ASA / X-1R Pro Cup Series, running two races again in Iowa in Rockingham. Iowa provided the best result, as Long would wheel her #10 Ford to a 14th place finish. Long also finished a solid 13th in Rockingham.
NASCAR Career:
Johanna Long would make her official NASCAR debut in 2010 as well, signing to run three races for Billy Ballew Motorsports in the #15 Toyota Tundra. Prior to the team’s badly-time shut down, Long would make her three starts with a best finish of 17th in her debut at Indianapolis Raceway Park. With Ballew shuttering the #15 team, Long would run four more races in 2010 with her family-owned team. The brief run in her family-owned #20 Toyota also resulted in collecting her first Top 20 with a 20th in Homestead.
Long would also run the 2010 Snowball Derby, scoring her first career Snowball win. Long would be only the second woman in history to win the Snowball Derby at this time, surpassing Tammy Jo Kirk’s win in 1994.
The 2011 season should have been Long’s big break with her family owned team, as she was scheduled to run for Rookie of the Year honors. As is often the case even today, funding became an issue and only allowed her to run the seasons first 17 races, as well as 3 of the final four races in her #20 Toyota. Long and her Panhandle Motorsports team ran well despite the budget concerns, with a best finish of 11th in Texas.Â
NASCAR PART II-NATIONWIDE SERIES:
For the 2012 season, Johanna Long caught the eye of Mary Louise Miller and her ML Motorsports team. Miller, an ARCA-turned-Nationwide Series owner, signed Long to drive her #70 Chevrolet in 21 races. With veteran David Green as a mentor, Long adapted quickly to the new ride, finishing 21st in her debut at Daytona. This would be backed up by several other Top 15 finishes that season (including a 12th in Kentucky). Long would finish a respectable 20th in points that season, despite only starting 21 races.
For 2013, Long returned to the #70 ML Motorsports team and ran 20 races. While results were similar to her 2012 season with several Top 15 finishes, she would slip to 23rd in points before ML Motorsports would let Long’s contract run out and eventually fold soon after. Long’s best 2013 finish ironically would come at Iowa, where she wheeled her #70 entry to a 12th place finish.
While long returned to running Pro Late Models at Five Flags Speedway in 2014, she also searched for sponsorship to return to NASCAR’s various national series.
Long was announced to be returning to the Xfinity Series with the now-infamous Affarano Motorsports team and their #03 Chevrolet. Funding would yet again become an issue, and Long would fail to qualify for her only attempt under the Affarano Motorsports banner in Richmond.Â
Focused on making her way back to NASCAR’S national series still, Long would find her way to Obaika Racing’s #97 VROOM! Brands Chevrolet in Iowa. She would qualify 28th and finish 27th that day, completing 254 of 260 laps.
2015 seems to have been the unfortunate end to Johanna Long’s stock car career, as she has not made any starts since.
SNOWBALL DERBY SUCCESS (2008-2015):
Long also had a tremendous amount of success in the Snowball Derby, which often has stacked fields with many of NASCAR’s top-level drivers involved. Including the pole and win mentioned above, Long would also run the event up to 2015. Interesting to note that in her final starts in 2014 and 2015, Long would run a #21 Subaru late-model sponsored by Anderson Subaru.Â
POST-MOTORSPORTS LIFE:
In 2016 Long, married long-time Kyle Busch Motorsports engineer Hunter Robbins and the couple has two children.
