Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile racers Todd Palin of Wasilla and Scott Davis of Soldotna were back on the trail Friday night after a crash that rattled the duo and sent a minor tremor across the state.

The crash itself was somewhat the norm for Alaska snowmobile accidents.

Palin hit a solid object -- in this case a barrel hidden beneath the snow. The obstruction stopped his snowmachine, and he went flying over it.

The 43-year-old Palin is not your average snowmachine rider, however; he is the husband of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

And the impact of this collision was enough to scare his Iron Dog teammate Davis, a seven-time winner of the race.

After Palin launched, Davis recovered him and rushed him to the clinic in the Yukon River community of Galena.

"He flew about 70 feet off the machine they said. He's going to have some bruises,'' said Galena race checker Ray Debenham, an Iron Dog veteran.

Palin's bruises weren't severe enough to prevent him from continuing. A health aide at the clinic cleared him to resume racing.

Gov. Palin was in Fairbanks on Friday for speaking engagements and received word that her husband is OK. She plans to see today's race finish on the Chena River at Pike's Landing, just as she did last year.

Debenham said Palin and Davis, 48 , were on the outskirts of the one-time Air Force outpost along the Yukon, racing at high speed toward a fuel stop, when Palin's machine hit the barrel.

After the crash, Davis stopped his snowmachine, went back to get Palin, loaded him on Davis' machine and went straight to the clinic.

Palin's snowmachine, which was left with one ski bent perpendicular to the other, was temporarily abandoned. Davis later borrowed a freight sled in Galena, went back down the trail, and retrieved it while Palin was being examined at the clinic.

Palin could not be reached for comment, but those who saw him around the checkpoint said he didn't look to be hurt badly.

"He's fine,'' Debenham said. "I just saw him. They were walking around. They're talking now about what they need to do to fix their machines.''

Palin and Davis are the defending Iron Dog champions. They were in second place when the accident happened but dropped far back in the field while repairing Palin's machine.

By the time they left Galena, they were 13th among the 18 teams still in the competition.

Forty teams of two left Big Lake on Sunday for the 2,000-mile race to Nome, then back to Fairbanks.

Mechanical failures or driver injuries have since knocked out more than half the field.

Palin was likely protected from serious injury by Iron Dog rules that require competitors to wear not only helmets, but body armor as well.

Reporter Wesley Loy in Juneau contributed to this story.