STEPHANIE LONG
I’ve gone so far to try to find the best trophies
that you can find.”
Yes, those impressive trophies the racers take
home, were designed by her, too.
“I just want the best for them,” Long says. “And
again, I’m not taking away and saying that Donald
doesn’t, because I know that his heart and soul is
there, too. But his persona has to be the way he
is, and mine has to be the way mine is. So mine
is more on the back side. And we joke around
about promoter of the year, and I’m pretty sure
that if we do do a fan call, I’m pretty sure that I
would get it only because of my photos.”
In the world of Duck, the ability to multitask
is imperative.
“I love seeing and I love communicating with
everybody,” Long says. “But what they don’t re-
alize is, when I was hiding, and this time I was
hiding in my car much more, because I have my
laptop open and I’m answering every question on
Duck X that I possibly can because even though
we’re in the middle of a race, people still think that
we should be answering them immediately. That
way Donald doesn’t have to worry about that.”
Long might be considered the boss, but she is
adamant her role is a supportive one.
“My goal as the boss is to make sure that Don-
ald has fun,” Long explains. “Yes, he does get
stressed, obviously, when certain things aren’t
going the way that they should be, as we all do,
but I want him to enjoy his race. I don’t want
him to go in feeling like there’s so much dis-
organization that he can’t enjoy it. I honestly,
this last race, I finally saw the laughter in him
because he, and I think it was because I’m more
at home to be able to help him with that and I’m
not splitting myself in 50 different directions.”
So what keeps her coming back to an appar-
ently thankless job?
“I’d love to say that I keep coming back for
Donald, and I would, and a part of me does be-
cause that’s his passion,” Long says. “My passion
is bodybuilding, and he’s always right there next
to me for that, always asking me, ‘When’s the
next show?’
“But I go back primarily because I don’t have
a huge family, and so the racers, the spectators,
the children of the spectators, they’re family, and
that’s what keeps me coming back.”
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
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Issue 143
Dirt