Tom Long to speak at next West Chapter meeting

October 20, 2016

Tom Long will be the guest speaker at the next West Chapter meeting, to be held Tuesday, November 1st at Coopers Ale House (part of Wyndham Garden Hotel) in “The Jamestown Room” in Greensboro. Tom is a native son and those of us who have watched his success in racing are mighty proud of him! We hope many of you will attend what will be a very interesting evening. Y’all come!

Tom is a full-time driver with SpeedSource Mazda Motorsports, the factory Mazda effort in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series Prototype class. In the 2015 Daytona Rolex 24hr, Long led overall for Mazda in the SKYACTIV-D program, the first Mazda and diesel to lead the race overall in its history.

Tom started his racing career in grassroots sports car racing with the SCCA Showroom Stock and Spec Miata classes as a member of the NC Region. He quickly took a liking to lightweight sports cars, setting multiple track records and winning championships while competing in the SCCA Runoffs with podium results. Tom then went on to win the 2005 Battery Tender Mazda MX-5 Cup National Championship before moving into the Grand-Am Continental Tire Series in 2006. By 2007, Long was on the steps of the Grand-Am podium, winning his first race in the series at home track VIRginia International Raceway in 2009 with the Mazda MX-5 Freedom Autosport team. For 2010, Long was a regular in both the Grand-Am Rolex and Continental Tire Series, winning multiple races and a top-5 result in the championship. 2011 and 2012 have been Long’s most celebrated results to date, leading several hours of the 2011 Daytona Rolex 24hr going on to a podium finish with Dempsey Racing’s Mazda RX8; while also finishing runner-up in the 2012 Continental Tire Series ST Championship with Freedom Autosport.

On the off weekends, Tom works as a professional driving coach and instructor. He is also a house coach for the VIR Drivers Club.  Tom graduated from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte in 2004 with a degree in business marketing.

You can email him at tom@longroadracing.com.

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