West Michigan drivers Mike Garvey, Johnny VanDoorn compete in 43rd Snowball Derby

Steve Kaminski The Grand Rapids Press

West Michigan stock car drivers Mike Garvey and Johnny VanDoorn barely qualified for Sunday’s 43rd annual Snowball Derby, but the two sure had an impact once the green flag dropped.

Garvey, a 48-year-old Muskegon native, finished 12th in the prestigious Super Late Model 300-lap race at 5 Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla., while VanDoorn, of Coopersville, took 18th.

Johanna Long, an 18-year old high school student from Pensacola, won the race on the half-mile short-track after surviving a series of late-race cautions.

Garvey, whose career includes stints in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck divisions, started 35th in the 37-car field after receiving a provisional starting spot. Garvey led the race with 70 laps to go when Bubba Pollard slipped by him, and he never regained the lead.

Garvey, who grew up racing at Muskegon tracks as well as Berlin Raceway in Marne, now resides in McDonough, Ga. He eventually dropped out of the top 10 Sunday after becoming involving in a number of late incidents.

VanDoorn, 22, started 34th, and he had to race his way into the field via Saturday’s 50-lap last chance race. Saturday’s top-four finishers advanced to Sunday’s main, and VanDoorn passed Stephen McCurley with two laps to go to qualify for his first Snowball Derby.

VanDoorn who won his second consecutive CRA Super Series championship this fall, drove his way up to 17th in Sunday’s first 80 laps. VanDoorn continued to climb. He was running 11th near the halfway point when he was forced to the pits due to mechanical problems. VanDoorn eventually returned to the race but lost a number of laps on pit road.

Past Snowball Derby winners include Kyle Busch, Darrell Waltrip and Donnie Allison. Long became the second female to win the race and the first since Tammy Jo Kirk took the checkered flag in 1994.

Long took the lead away from Landon Cassill with two laps to go.

"It is absolutely amazing,” Long said on Speed51.com’s post-race coverage. “I can’t believe I did it. We worked so hard for this and we did it.”

Long made contact with Cassill when making the late-race pass. The two said after the race that there were no hard feelings.

Cassill eventually finished second.

“I was on old tires and she was on new tires, so I have nothing to be mad about,” Cassill said. “She did a great job, and I’m just real proud to be in the top five here.”