 |
|
 |
| Lime Rock Paddock Patter –Freedom Autosport Salutes Our Veterans |
|
|
|
Freedom Autosport's Glenn Long
|
Paddock Patter -Freedom Autosport Salutes Our Veterans
© Andrew S. Hartwell
Glenn Long is the Crew Chief for Freedom Autosport, a team running three Mazda RX-5s in the ST Class of the KONI Challenge. The three green Mazdas here at Lime Rock this weekend are the No. 145 car with Long's son, Tom Long, co-driving with Derek Whitis, who is also one of the owners of the team. The second car is the No. 146 Mazda with drivers Andrew Carbonell and Rhett O'Doski, aboard. O'Doski is a co-owner of the team with Whitis. The third car is the No. 147 driven by Sarah Cattaneo and Mark White.
We spoke with Long for a few minutes and asked him about the team and why they were so obviously saluting America's combat forces. We thought it was an appropriate question to ask on a Memorial Day weekend.
"The Freedom Autosport team has been in existence in the KONI Challenge Series for two years now" said Long. "The team started out in Tallahassee, Florida and is now located in Raleigh, North Carolina. We have a three car team and we also support the Flatout motorsports car out of our shop. (The No. 8 Mazda RX-5 driven by Nick Leverone, and Hugh McHaffie.)
"Our team is focused on saying thanks to our veterans for all the amazing things they have done for us day in and day out. One of our team owners has a brother in law on active duty with the Marines. He flies helicopters and you will notice on the top of our cars there is a squadron emblem from his squadron. We also do a lot of work with the Single Marines Program (http://www.usmc-mccs.org/smp/index.cfm?sid=ml&smid=1) as well as the Wounded Veterans fund."
At the opening round of the 2009 season at Daytona, Boris Said was 'recruited' to join the team and his comments at the time validate Freedom's choice of Said to have been a hallmark of enlistment success.
"I'm a big fan of America and consider myself a patriot," Said commented. "I missed the Daytona test because I was doing a charity for the National Guard. I've driven the Army car, and my wife works for the Marines. Driving with Freedom Autosport has the added bonus of doing something that gives back, because our service members give so much for us."
Glenn Long has been involved with racing in club sport for 30 years now and the last two years with Freedom Autosports. "I used to club race for several years and it was here at Lime Rock that I did my first driver's school. This place has a lot of wonderful memories and while it isn't true we learned on Schwinn's we did have Roman numerals on the cars!"
"We have been having a lot of fun running the Mazda MX5s. My son Tom is one of the drivers and it is a wonderful way to get to play with your kids when they are in their mid-twenties! The whole family is now involved in racing too. My other son works for Chip Ganassi Motorsports on his NASCAR Cup team. My wife is the team mom, as she likes to say, and she comes to all the races and so it really is a family affair."
An American family, proud to be racing on Memorial Day weekend, we might add.
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
 |
|
