Twelve months ago, 11th place earned Zack Steer of Sheep Mountain $36,600. This year, the same effort will net the finisher $21,900 -- or $14,700 less.

Iditarod racers are absorbing a 35 percent cut in the purse this year and no musher gets hit harder than the 40 percent slash absorbed by the 11th-place finisher.

While Iditarod Trail Committee officials spared the first-place and 30th-place finishers any reduction, purse cuts ballooned for racers finishing at the bottom of the top 10 and in the low teens.

Tough economic times are squeezing Iditarod mushers all around. While the purse dropped, the entry fee increased and the price of everything from dog food to booties to transportation to the Anchorage start and from the Nome finish remained expensive.

Mushers have noticed. Sixty-seven teams started this year's race, down from a record 96 a year ago.

This year's entry fee is $4,000, up 33 percent from last year's $3,000. And the race's board of directors is considering increasing the fee to $5,000 next year and capping the number of teams at 85 by 2010.

"Of course finances were a factor," Steer said of his decision to sit out this Iditarod after finishing third and 11th the last two races. "They raised the entry fee 20 percent and cut the purse 30 percent.

"It used to be that if you finished in the top 20, you could cover all your expenses. Now you have to finish in the top 10 to break even. Martin (Buser), ask him. Even with all the sponsors he has, he has to put two kids through school and I'm sure he's struggling."

Iditarod executive director Stan Hooley insisted race officials were not trying to squeeze out back-of-the-packers who just want to get to Nome.

"That is absolutely not the case," he said.

The race faces the same tough economics confronting businesses everywhere, he said.

"It is clear it is more expensive to run this race as a musher and clearly to stage this race as an organization," Hooley said.

Even the sport's biggest names are not immune to the race's economic troubles.

"Everything went up except the purse," said Lance Mackey, who earned $69,000 and a new truck with his third consecutive victory Wednesday. "I was just as ticked off as anybody when they told us we had to pay 4,000 bucks to sign up this year and then drop the purse by $300,000. That was like a slap in the face to all of us."

"We are the most underpaid professional athletes in the world to do what we do," Mackey added. "Most people wouldn't even consider it. We are literally working for welfare checks."

Mackey noted that Hooley, with a $100,000-plus salary, now makes more than people working for President Obama in the White House.

"Someone needs to take a pay cut," Mackey said.

Hooley said his salary was about $108,000, what it was several years ago.

Hooley said the costs of staging the race had nearly tripled from 1995 to 2008, increasing to $1.8 million from $667,000. To get a musher from Anchorage to Nome costs the organization about $9,000. Add such in-kind services as free veterinary care and flying time, and the cost increases to more than $20,000, he said.

Iditarod staff has grown to include development director Greg Bill, finance director Don Patterson, race director Joanne Potts, education director Diane Johnson, membership director Deby Trosper, public relations director Chas St. George, chief veterinarian Stuart Nelson, race marshal Mark Nordman, logistics coordinator Andy Willis and communications coordinator Bernadette Anne.

Hooley said the $610,000 purse, down from $935,000 last year, was cut because the race paid out too much the past two years.

Prize money goes to the top 30 finishers. Each finisher lower than 30th receives $1,049 each to help get themselves and their dogs back home.

Steer worries that middle-of-the-pack mushers could get priced out of the race.

"Ideally, you have a mix of veteran mushers and less experienced mushers," he said. "But you need that core group of middle- and back-of-the-pack mushers. They're the ones who make the mistakes that are fun to watch.

"Look at this year. The drama was in middle and back of the pack -- watching the back of the pack get hammered (by the weather)."

Steer, who sits on the race's rules committee, said the Iditarod has grown too big to rely mainly on volunteers, but "there's a lot of concern among the mushers about the direction the ITC (Iditarod Trail Committee) is going.

"It takes full-time professionals running the event. They deserve to be compensated. But there's concern among the mushers that's coming at the cost of the purse."

When top sponsor Cabela's pulled out before this year's race, it hurt, Steer said.

But ultimately, he noted, talented mushers just love racing.

"Top mushers like to race whether there's a purse or not," he said. "You could have a $1 prize and these guys would race just as hard."

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.