Donald “Duck” Long, founder and creator of DuckX Productions, announced the postponement of Battle of Thrones, set to take place on January 13-15, 2023, at Florida’s Orlando Speed World Dragway. The Battle of Thrones event was scheduled to kick off the 2023 Radial Outlaws Racing Series season.
Long put the race teams planning on attending the event first by postponing Battle of Thrones. He cited that many teams are suffering from supply chain shortages and are still waiting on parts.
“The tires were one part of it. They couldn’t get turbo covers, ProChargers or superchargers out to teams so that it would be fair. How could we say, ‘this team gets tires, this team gets a ProCharger, this team gets a turbo?’ It came down to the amount of products that weren’t going to be available to the racers so they could come out and compete,” explained Long. “We want everyone to come out and race. That’s what Battle of Thrones and the point championship are about. It would not be fair to pick and choose who gets parts.”
Long wants everyone to have a fair chance to participate in the points championship and be ready for the start of the season. Additionally, Long doesn’t feel like it’s fair to his sponsors and vendors, who equally feel the shortage of supplies.
“After we postponed the event, Mickey Thompson offered to put tires into super-production and fly them in. But we couldn’t keep waiting to find out if we were going to have superchargers,” said Long. “However, everybody will have superchargers before US Street Nationals.”
As far as a new date for Battle of Thrones, Long is looking to reschedule it in conjunction with the No Mercy 14 event.
“It’s tentative, but we have our No Mercy race October 12-15, so we might do Battle of Thrones October 8-9, then straight into No Mercy in south Georgia,” Long explained.
He also mentioned that about 20- to 30-percent of the racers wanted to race no matter the circumstances. However, the remainder of the drivers were thankful that Long considered the unfortunate circumstances.
“Nitrous Outlet called me right after and wanted to thank me because they were trying to figure out how to get the nitrous systems out in time to make the race,” said Long.
The postponement of the race isn’t something that Long is taking lightly. “We’re losing a ton of money, like stickers, merchandise, food – it sucks,” he said. “But the Battle of Thrones is supposed to be about the best of the best racing each other. If you don’t allow everybody to have parts to come and race, it doesn’t make sense.”
The US Street Nationals will be the first race to count towards the Radial Outlaws Points Championship. The US Street Nationals are set for January 27-29 at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida. Lights Out will follow up the US Street Nationals on February 23-25 at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, Georgia.
“We’re trying to take the whole radial racing as a series to the next level and a real championship to shoot for like we did last year,” said Long of the 2023 season. “We want to make it where they’re racing for more money and better prizes.”
Long is known for his action-packed drag radial events and his eccentric character. The DuckX Production founder celebrated a record pre-entry for his No Mercy race in 2022. Long and his wife, Stephanie Wisnieske-Long, who plays an integral part in DuckX Productions, have steadily been growing their events and brand.
“We want to have a great series this year, and we didn’t want to start off on a bad foot,” concluded Long.
This story was originally published on January 6, 2023. 
