Drag Illustrated Issue 143, April 2019 | Page 24

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.” DI DI DI DI DI DI DI 24 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com DI DI DI Issue 143 Dirt