Gary Long is
a lifelong Michigan resident who was born and raised, and lived for many
years in the Shiawassee County city of Corunna. In 1984 Gary married his
wife Yvonne, and they also lived in Henderson, MI for a period of five
years. Gary and Yvonne now live in Perry, MI, having moved there in the
spring of 2006. He initially began drag racing motorcycles in 1967, running
at local dragstrips. In 1970, Gary ventured into a serious Stock Category
drag racing partnership, racing a four-speed 1969 Mercury Cyclone 428
Cobra-Jet. The car was a performance success almost immediately, running
within .25 seconds of the National Record for its designated class. In the
spring of 1972, Gary bought out his partner’s financial interest in the car
and began racing the car on his own from that point on. As is typical of
seasoned drag racers from the “old school”, Gary is no different, performing
100% of all work on the car, including building his own engines and
transmissions. Gary’s accomplishments in Drag Racing include Five NHRA
National Event wins, which includes a win at the prestigious U.S. Nationals,
three NHRA Divisional point meet wins, and two NHRA National Event
runner-ups, among others, to make an enviable wish list that any drag racer
would dream to have in their racing resume.
NHRA National Class Records
H/Stock - 1973 F/Stock - 1974
F/Stock Automatic -1974 J/Stock - 1975
E/Stock - twice in 1974 F/Stock - 1978
NHRA National Event Individual Class Wins
WinterNationals @ Pomona, CA. 1974
SportsNationals @ Indy Raceway Park 1974, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1986
SummerNationals@ Englishtown, N.J. 1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1986,
1988
U.S. Nationals @ Indy Raceway Park 1974, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1987
Mid-South Nationals @ Memphis, TN 1988, 1989, 1991
Keystone Nationals @ Mohnton, PA 1987
NHRA National and Divisional Races, Overall Stock Eliminator Performance
1977 SportsNationals (Winner) 1978 GatorNationals@ Gainesville, FL (Winner)
1978 CajunNationals @Erwinville, LA (runner-up) 1981 Indy Divisional
(Winner)
1983 SummerNationals (semi-finalist) 1985 Indy Divisional (Winner)
1986 Central Mich Dragway Divisional (Winner) 1986 U.S. Nationals@ Indy
(Winner)
1987 Indy Divisional (Winner) 1987 MileHigh Nationals@ Morrison, CO (Winner)
1987 TRW All-Star (runner-up) 1988 Mid-South Nationals@Memphis,TN (Winner)
1988 NorthStar Nationals@ Brainerd, MN (runner-up) 1988 U.S. Nationals
(semi-finalist)
Gary qualified for the NHRA World
Finals twice, 1973 and 1974. Finished 14th in the overall National W.R.
Grace Cup points in 1978, and was 3rd highest in the nation among Stock
class cars in those standings. He is a four-time Top Ten finisher in NHRA
Division 3 Stock points, 3rd in 1981, 9th in 1984, 4th in 1985, and second
in 1987. In 1985, Gary finished second in Stock points for the Ford National
Cup. He earned a berth twice in the prestigious TRW All-Stars Series in 1985
and 1987, representing NHRA Division 3. Gary is a two-time Top Ten finisher
in NHRA World Championship Points, earning a 10th in 1987, and a 6th in
1988. In 1992, Gary Long essentially stepped away from racing due to family
and job demands. However, he never quite stepped that far away. Back in the
fall of 1982, with all his successes with his Mercury Cyclone, Oldsmobile
showed interest and gave Gary a 1982 Cutlass for Stock class competition. He
built the car to conform within Stock rules, and ran the car a few times in
1983 and 1984. It did not perform to his own expectations, and already
having a very competitive car in the Mercury, he parked the Olds and put it
in storage. Fast forward to 1997. Gary’s stepson, Eric Stewart, decided he
would like to go racing, and poof, Gary Long is back into drag racing, now
as a crew chief. The Olds was bracket raced in 1997-1999. In 2000-2001, the
car went through a complete transformation by Gary and Eric into a NHRA/IHRA
legal Super/Stocker, running in the SS/MA class. Using a 307 Olds for power,
Eric has won the SS/MA class title twice at IHRA National events, and in
2006, scored a Super/Stock runner-up at the NHRA Division 3 Points Meet at
Stanton, MI. Gary Long was just not able to stay away from racing, and now
he and Eric are able to share this together. The Mercury? Of course Gary
still has it, and who knows? And as Gary’s old tagline lettered on the
Cyclone said, “That’s the Long and the short of it”.
