Long: Mustang Challenge a “Natural Ladder” for Ford

Mustang Challenge Series Director Glenn Long says the new IMSA-sanctioned single-make series “creates a wonderful platform for the ladder system for Ford,” ahead of its inaugural race weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Over the past few years, Ford has significantly increased its global sports car racing presence coinciding with the release of its current S650-generation Mustang road car, with the American manufacturer introducing new GT3 and GT4 machinery last year, as well as the Dark Horse R that will be used in Mustang Challenge.

“Mustang Challenge is kind of your entry point,” Long told Sportscar365. “You focus up through GT4, GT3.

“It’s a naturally occurring sequence. They all happen to be within the same organization. They’re all within IMSA right now. Everything is in one place under a very professional organization.”

Despite being the “entry point” in Ford’s racing ladder, Long notes that the 500-horsepower Dark Horse R will provide a unique challenge for teams and drivers, while also serving as a teaching tool for future competition.

“I think why it is unique is the size of the vehicle and the horsepower, Long said. “The ability for a team to come into a pro racing series and start with a vehicle like the Dark Horse R is wonderful.

“It has enough flexibly in the design, in the execution of setup where teams can really start to gain an understanding of ‘What do I need to do to setup a race car? How do I set up a race car?’

“You don’t need a full-fledged team of engineers to operate the Mustang Challenge car. As you start to advance to the next level, you now can take what you’ve learned in Mustang Challenge, apply it to GT4 and it’s a little bit more complex.

“This is truly the next-step into something with high horsepower that prepares you for the GT4, and and eventual, potential GT3 platform.”

Former Competition Experience Informing Long’s Oversight of Mustang Challenge

Father of IMSA-regular Tom Long, and as a former racer and car-builder himself, Glenn Long turned his attention to single-make competition, with the Long Road Racing organization developing and initially building the fourth-generation Global MX-5 Cup Car platform for Mazda before closing its doors in 2019.

“I think what it’s helped me do – prior single-make experience – is, [understand] ‘What do customers typically like? What works well?'” Long said.

“Those are the sorts of things that you gain from overtime of what works and what doesn’t.

“And then having some racing experience myself, it was also a nice opportunity to blend the transition from club racing into pro racing, having done that. And that’s been very rewarding as well.

Recently, Long has acted in various team management roles in Trans Am and IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge before being appointed as the General Manager for Ford Performance Racing School Motorsports and now, and as the Series Director for the blue oval’s single-make series.

“The school does all these experiential programs for Ford, so it was kind of natural for us when this opportunity came up for series administration,” said Long.

“We know the Mustang. So it was something where we had an opportunity to provide a lot of experience with the vehicle. ‘What are our customers looking for? What are Ford’s customer’s looking for? And how do we blend those together to have the best possible experience?’”

“It’s the first time that I’m going to be ‘on the other side of the badge,’” Long said. “I’ve always been a competitor and have never been a part of administration. So, I’m very exited about that.

“I think the value add of having been a competitor is that you know where the rocks are in the river. So as things come up we try very hard to make sure that it’s as easy as possible for the competitor while ensuring that we still stay within our lane within the sanctioning organization and for Ford.

“It’s been wonderful working with the IMSA staff to get to this point.”