LONG: Streaking To Elkhart

Le Mans / ALMS

LONG: Streaking To Elkhart

Five wins in a row is just short of surreal. At this point, there’s not enough time to sit back and reflect - our sole focus is on making it six at Road America.

Patrick Long | http://www.patricklong.com | Posted August 12, 2009 Elkhart Lake, WI

Can Patrick Long and his Flying Lizard Porsche GT2 team keep the winning streak alive at Elkhart this weekend? Tune into SPEED on Sunday to find out. (LAT)

It’s great to be out on the Interstates of the Midwest - Jörg and I are road tripping from Mid Ohio to Elkhart Lake with a quick stop in Westmont, Ill. (near Chicago) tonight for a team PR event at Napleton Porsche. Our program this week has been to jump on the road and leisurely make our way to Elkhart. Our first stop was Columbus, OH, and last night we decided to go to Indy.

We mixed it up a bit and found a really cool hotel near Purdue University’s campus and lived the University life for a night. I used to take a road trip every summer when I was racing in karts - we’d race the annual Nationals and me and a couple of buddies would just jump in the team’s rig and head home to California in the truck. It’s pretty nostalgic and fun to hit the Flying J Truckstops again and just roll down the highway.

After our victory Saturday we went back to the track on Sunday to debrief and hang out with the team as they prepped for Road America. I strolled up to the outside of turn one to watch the first handful of laps of the IndyCar race - I was pretty pumped to see the crowd!

There were so many people out there, despite the economy and the doom and gloom of what we hear about the state of road racing. I certainly had a different perspective after sitting on the hillside with the fans.

If you look at the pedigree of the team and drivers in the ALMS and IndyCar and even in Grand-Am, I think it’s pretty promising that we’ll pull through this tough time collectively.

So many times, society and the media pushes a herd mentality on us - I’m realistic about how tough the times are, but it’s really encouraging to see road racers and fans band together and continue our sport through the down times. There’s been a lot of hype about GT2 class in the ALMS lately, and certainly Corvette’s return has been a shot in the arm for the Series and for sportscars in general.

It’s extra cool that they’re in GT2 to battle with us at Porsche, and Ferrari, BMW and the strong privateers in the Panoz and the Ford GT40.

Five wins in a row is just short of surreal. At this point, there’s not enough time to sit back and reflect - our sole focus is on making it six at Road America. Jörg and I have won there twice together (2005 and 2006), and both of us love the track. Road America is just such a great venue - of course it’s very scenic, and being in a small town it’s really mellow.

There’s a huge culture and heritage in town and it’s always fun to hit up Siebken’s and get into the spirit of the weekend. The fans there are a lot like the fans at Mid Ohio - very loyal to their racetrack and savvy about all sorts of different forms of motorsport, from sportscars to superbikes.

I enjoy talking all types of racing with fans, and because of the ALMS’ ‘for the fans’ policy, I get to do that quite a bit. There’s always the traveling crew of extra-dedicated ALMS fans to drive hundreds of miles to see us race, and a few that fly in from the UK or Germany, too.

It’s a great privilege to put on a show for them!

Pat

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.

Patrick Long is the only American factory driver racing for Porsche, having joined Porsche in 2003 as a Junior Driver. After starting his career with Porsche racing in the German and British Carrera Cups and Michelin Supercup, he made his professional racing debut in 2003 at Petit Le Mans.

Patrick is the youngest-ever American winner of the four "classics" of endurance racing - the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Rolex 24 At Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans. He has had ample early success in his career, including winning the 2005 ALMS GT2 Championship, 9 ALMS races in the GT2 and LMP2 classes, and holds the GT2 track record at Le Mans.

Patrick's laid-back Southern California attitude and European racing education make him unique in the sportscar racing world. Conversationally fluent in five languages, Patrick is as at home surfing the point breaks of Malibu as he is speaking in French at Le Mans. Currently residing in the Clearwater Beach, FL area, his childhood loves of motocross racing and car culture have flourished as a result of his job and partnerships with Troy Lee Designs, Oakley, Wheel Enhancement and Shock Doctor.

Learn more about Pat at: http://www.PatrickLong.com and about Porsche at http://www.Porsche.com

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrick Long

Patricklong.com

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