Small-tire racing veteran Shawn Ayers and car owner Fletcher Cox are hoping this is their year to finally break through and win one of Donald “Duck” Long’s Duck X Production races. The duo, along with tuner Jon Salemi, have been working hard to make sure they’re in the hunt to win in Pro 275 at this weekend’s Holley EFI Lights Out 13, Feb 24-27 at South Georgia Motorsports Park. 

“We've always had good cars, it's just the stars never aligned for us,” said Ayers, who’s driven for the Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle for several years. “But everything worked out for us in testing. The car's doing good. Jon [Salemi] is doing good with the tuning part. Everybody is focused on our ultimate goal of winning one of Duck's races. Fletcher and I have won a lot of races, but we've never won one of Duck's races. That's a milestone that we want to accomplish. Hopefully this year everything will pan out for us.”

The team tested their roots-blown ’69 Camaro at Bradenton Motorsports Park a couple weeks ahead of Lights Out to knock off the dust and get ready for the nearly week-long event. In addition to some minor setup changes, the car sported a fresh new paint job. 

“We went some high 3.60s and had some real good runs,” Ayers said. “Hopefully we'll have some good air in Georgia like we did at Bradenton testing and everything will be good.”

Ayers believes it will take runs in the 3.60-second range to qualify well and win rounds in Pro 275. 

“I think there will be mid-60s ran this weekend depending on the air,” Ayers said. “I think it's supposed to be really hot a couple days, but it's supposed to cool off the latter part of the week. The weather and the air density really affects those blowers. Hopefully what we call the 'blower gods' will show up and give us some good air.”

Now in its 13th year, Lights Out has developed a reputation as the marquee race in drag radial racing, with a strong fan turnout and tight competition. It attracts some of the best drivers, tuners, and teams in radial racing, which makes a win at Lights Out – or even one of Long’s other races like Sweet 16 and No Mercy – mean so much to competitors like Ayers and Cox. 

“This would be like winning the championship of drag radial racing,” said Ayers, who won the 2018 NMCA Street Outlaw championship in Cox’s “Gold Dust” Mustang. “It would have a lot of meaning to us. Me and Fletcher have always had the goal to win one of his races. Hopefully this will be our year.”

Qualifying at Lights Out 13 begins at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 23, with eliminations beginning on Saturday and continuing on Sunday.