Biography

Driver: Cody Long

Residence: Etna Green, IN

Birthdate: May 4TH 1990

Parents: Rex & Kim Long

Siblings: RJ, Mark & Jerica

Cody has been around racing all of his life. This is why he realizes, at such a young age, the commitment, dedication and drive that it takes to be competitive in racing. Cody's first adventure on a kart was at the tender age of two years old, when all they had then were just yard karts. They would all get together on Sundays to play. Rex retired from his 14 year racing career to let Cody have his turn. Cody had his first race in 1996; he raced one time that year at a local track. In 1997 Cody had his first full season of racing. He raced on an asphalt road course in South Bend, IN and finished third in the point's race. He also raced on a clay oval track in Akron, IN and finished fourth in the point's race there. We were very proud of Cody for his first year of racing and the best was yet to come!

In 1998 Cody raced on two different clay ovals. One was at Akron Speedway in Akron, IN and the other was at Bunker Hill Speedway in Peru, IN. He won 1998 Track Champion at both tracks. Cody finished his 1998 season with the average finish of a 2.3. This was an extreme accomplishment for an eight-year-old boy. We hope to be able to walk to victory lane again and again hand in hand with our sponsors.

In 1999 Cody started racing in the National Series with the World Karting Association, in the Bandit Racing Chassis Speedway Pavement Series. This series has taken us all over the Eastern Coast. Cody has raced with other children this year from all over the United States and Canada. The Nationals in WKA is like a child's version of NASCAR. He has competed very well over the past years. Our goal this year was to have a podium finish (a top five finish) by the end of the race schedule, which is five races. To our delight he accomplished this goal by the third race. The competition is extreme; the children that race in these events all are very serious racers that want to go beyond to accomplish their racing careers. To our amazement Cody finished in the 6th place in National Points for the WKA in the Junior Sportsman 1 Heavy Division, and he finished 10th place in the Lite Division. He raced in the Ohio Divisional of WKA and received an overall fourth place finish for the year. We were unable to run a complete season in the Ohio Divisional this year, but we are planning to run a complete season next year.

Locally Cody has completed yet another successful year. We raced at Dora Speedway located in Wabash, IN during the summer, which was a clay oval track. Cody was able to clinch another Track Championship in his age division at Dora Speedway. He raced a quarter of the season at US 24 Speedway in Logansport, IN and placed fourth in the points standing for the 1999 racing season. During the winter months Cody races at any available indoor series to maintain and improve his skills. They have indoor series at the State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis and in Auburn at Kruse's Auction building.

2000 was yet another fabulous year of racing for Long Enterprises with Cody as our driver. Locally we finished with our Fourth Season Points Championship. We raced at Camden Speedway in Camden, IN. We were undefeated with feature wins; Cody had 14 straight feature wins and 28 heat race wins. This was a huge accomplishment for Cody and Long Racing to be undefeated for an entire season. On the National Level Cody had a very difficult year. Cody turned 10 years old in May, and he was able to move to the next age group in the WKA events. This was a very difficult decision on our part, but we felt for Cody to get the experience we needed to move him up to the next level at the end of the season, and that meant forfeiting the points for the year. We felt that it would give him a better edge for the 2001 year. We had not been competitive enough in the Purple-plate class due to weight, and if we moved to the Blue-plate class we would have more to work with. It was the correct choice to make because when Cody raced with the Blue-plate class he received a top five finish without any difficulties.

In the 2001 season we will be racing Nationally with the WKA series again. On the divisional level we will be racing at Vincennes at the Fast Track Raceway. It will be a 5-race schedule that we will be attending throughout the summer. We also will be racing at least one divisional race in Alabama. We have yet to decide where we will be racing locally for the 2001 season. Our goals for the 2001 season will be to earn another track championship and finish in the top five at the National level.