Tom Long set to join Racing to End Alzheimer’s at the Mazda MX-5 Martinsville weekend

The sports car veteran will carry the Racing to End Alzheimer’s colors at the MX-5 Cup weekend alongside the NASCAR Cup series

LOS ANGELES (October 20, 2025) – Racing to End Alzheimer’s, driver Tom Long, and Hendricks Motorsports are set to join forces this weekend, with Long carrying the now-familiar purple and orange livery at Martinsville Speedway in the Whelan Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin race – part of the penultimate NASCAR event of the season.

Long, a longtime development driver, driver advisor, and ambassador for the Whelen Mazda MX-5 series, has driven with Racing to End Alzheimer’s several times – first as the endurance driver in the Daytona round of the 2022 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge (alongside Nick Galante and Luke Rumburg) and this year as the endurance driver with Matt Forbush in the Racing to End Alzheimer’s-supported LMP3 prototype, contesting several rounds of the HSR series (with a win at Watkins Glen).

Mazda’s MX-5 Cup made a debut outing at Martinsville in 2024, staging a non-points post-season exhibition that thrilled the drivers and fans alike to set the stage for an encore battle for a grandfather clock at one of NASCAR’s most iconic circuits.

Long finished fourth at the MX-5 Martinsville race last year with Hendricks Motorsports, which gave him a taste of what this year could be – and an idea.

“It was so exciting to be involved with the event last year at Martinsville,” said Long. “The event was amazing, and the Mazda MX-5 platform was so well suited to the track. As the folks at Hendricks Motorsports and I looked at doing the race this year, we thought it was the perfect platform for Racing to End Alzheimer’s. I’ve had a great relationship with (Racing to End Alzheimer’s founder) Phil Frengs for years and we knew this could be a unique opportunity to get Racing to End Alzheimer’s in front of a new racing crowd – and a very large crowd, given that this is the second to last race of the Chase for the Cup playoffs.”

Long’s No. 54 Mazda MX-5 will carry the purple and orange livery reminiscent of the team’s marquee racing effort in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Stephen Cameron Racing. In addition to the car on track, Frengs will also host a pop-up tent bearing the Racing to End Alzheimer’s logo in the Fan Zone at Martinsville Speedway. As always, Frengs will spend the weekend at the pop-up, talking to fans who have seen their families or friends affected by dementia or Alzheimer’s.

“A big shout out and thanks to Tom Long for putting this program together,” said Frengs. “He had planned to drive in this mega-event at Martinsville and given that Tom has driven with us in the past and has a special relationship with the MX-5 program and with Hendricks Motorsports, he put us all together to create this partnership.

“He encouraged us to put our livery on the car, giving us the chance to come and meet the wonderful and numerous NASCAR fans. So this is another first for us, our very first NASCAR weekend. We look forward to talking to everybody about Alzheimer’s and how it affects them – it’s a deep subject, and sometimes a difficult one, but we enjoy giving fans the opportunity to talk about their loved ones, for them to share their stories and for us to share ours as well. We’re really looking forward to it.”

Long has seen the effect Alzheimer’s has had on friends over the years and is proud to offer Racing to End Alzheimer’s another avenue to, as its mission statement says, “fund the care and find the cure.”

“I have had some really close friends in the racing community through the years deal with either Alzheimer’s or dementia, so it means it means a lot to me to be able to help support such a great cause,” said Long. “I truly admire what Phil is personally doing to create such value for such an important effort, and I believe this is another great opportunity to meet an entirely new crowd of fans. He has been in the Michelin Pilot Challenge series for a long time, but if the logo is on other cars, in other racing series, it makes it feel just that much bigger. We’re going to help him raise money and raise awareness and hopefully, one day, we’ll have helped to make the difference that finds the cure.”

Racing to End Alzheimer’s mission is to bring awareness about Alzheimer’s to tracks all over North America, while raising funds for Alzheimer’s research and care. Family and friends can honor their loved ones who have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia by making a $250 donation, which places their name and hometown on the No. 19 Racing to End Alzheimer’s car in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, starting in the first race at Daytona in January and throughout the season, ending at Road Atlanta next October. All donations are matched by Frengs’ company Legistics, with 100% going to the program’s two beneficiaries. To date, Racing to End Alzheimer’s has donated over $1 million to those two programs.

Donate now at this link.

The 100-lap race will take the green flag Thursday at 6:00 p.m. ET. The race will be broadcast live on IMSA.com/tvlive, IMSA’s YouTube page, and Racer magazine’s YouTube page.