Title: Dream realized on streets of L
Tags:
Blog Entry: Patrick Long believes it was 1993 - he was 12 years old and living in Agoura Hills - the first time he came to see the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in person. "I watched my heroes and the guys I admired," said Long. "It's a very special place." So imagine his excitement 13 years later when he was being watched by a new generation of young fans as he raced in the American Le Mans Series on those same Long Beach streets. "To drive there that first year (2006), it was pretty special," said Long, who drove in ALM's GT2 (or Grand Touring 2) class that year. Long finished 2006 in second place overall in the Rolex Series and earned a second-place GT2 finish in Long Beach in 2007 with driving partner Darren Law - Le Mans teams are made up of two or more drivers, who trade off in the middle of the race. Now 26, Long returns to the 1.9-mile street course for this year's race in the LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype 2) class and driving for legendary Penske Racing. "It's the iconic team in all of motorsports," said Long, who now lives in Bellaire, Fla. "Roger Penske is a hero to many people. Running for Penske is an opportunity I've aspired to since I was a little kid. It's special to not only drive for that organization ... but he's calling the strategy for me and he's on the radio with me throughout the race. It's great to learn from him and to see how he runs his organization." Long got his love of motorsports from ed hardy clothing his grandfather and Uncle Pat, for whom he's named. He says racing is "hard wired" into him. "It's all I cared about (as a kid)," said Long. He began racing go-karts at 8 at a track in Oxnard and by 14 had two national karting titles to his credit. At 16, he moved to Italy - karting is much more popular in Europe than in North America - to learn from the best. "Unless you were immersed in (European karting) culture and living there," Long said, "you didn't have much of a chance." In Italy, he learned to "eat, breathe and sleep" the sport, and it paid off. In 1998, Long became the first American to win an International European karting event in 20 years. He also became fluent in Italian, French and German while living in Europe. In pandora style beads 1999, he moved to France and began racing automobiles. He placed third in the Elf Campus series that year and had eight top- 10 finishes in the British Formula Ford series in 2000. As the lead Formula Ford driver for the Van Diemen team in 2001, Long claimed two poles, won three times and finished second in the points race. By 2002, Long had graduated to the British Formula Renault series, where he won at Snetterton, England, and finished eighth in points. All that success eventually caught the eye of those in charge at Porsche and Long made his debut as a UPS Porsche Junior factory driver in 2003. That's also when he made is ALM debut at Petit Le Mans and finished fourth in the season-ending GT race. Since joining ALM full time in 2004, Long has won the series' three most prestigious races - Sebring, Fla. (2005 in GT2), Petit Le Mans (2005-06 in GT2, '07 in LMP2) and 24 Hours of Le Mans (2004, 2007 in GT2). He also won the GT2 series title in 2005 with five victories. This year in Long Beach, he'll team with German veteran Sascha Maassen in their Porsche RS Spyde Other articles: http://shijizhongxue.cn/bbs/Blog.asp?BlogUserName=photoshop&menu=ShowBlog&BlogID=2201 http://portal.acgc.com.my/blog/view/id_80/title_Party-time-for-Sami/
VIEW FULL VERSION: Link