Lost sponsorships have the Iditarod Trail Committee slashing pay and benefits of permanent staffers and slicing another $100,000 from the purse.

Such an unkind cut feels more like amputation.

In 2008 the purse was $925,000. Next March it will be $525,000.

Dog drivers, welcome to the traditional Alaska economy.

An event that depends on big-money corporate sponsors is always subject to boom and bust. Sponsors may not be able to sustain high levels of support -- Cabela's and Chevron, Iditarod mainstays for years, have reduced their support.

Other backers may be one-timers or short-timers. The Iditarod lost $600,000 when two cable television outfits didn't renew their deals.

The Iditarod has been here before. In their early 1990s, Timberland, which covered most of the race's budget, and Iams, the dog food maker, pulled out when the race and the Humane Society tangled over dog care.

The race survived.

Go back to 1973, when the Iditarod was in its first year -- a wild notion, not an established event. That's when musher and "Father of the Iditarod" Joe Redington was still trying to hustle the promised $50,000 total purse while the mushers were on the trail.

By contrast the race today still has a solid foundation in four consistent sponsors -- Anchorage Chrysler Dodge, GCI, Wells Fargo and Exxon Mobil -- worth about $1 million a year.

That may be cold comfort to competitive mushers counting on a decent purse to pay their bills and help them work their kennels year-round.

But the economics of the event are like the trail -- no guarantees, no promise of ever-increasing purses. Lean years mean less money, and the mushing life is a matter of choice, not coercion. Nobody forces a musher to chase the dream. But most of us smile at the thought.

This might be a good time to remember the eldest Mackey, Dick, who both wanted to build a rich purse and knew the race wasn't about money. When his son, Rick, won in 1983, he said the money didn't mean much. But the champion's belt buckle and the achievement? That counted for keeps.

Dogs and mushers and their families have to eat. Maybe some sponsoring angel will sweeten the purse between now and March. Maybe not. Either way, the best will be there, and plenty of others who want to go to Nome the hard way.