Sports

Some top Iron Dog racers swapping partners or sitting out 2016 race

The world's longest and toughest and richest snowmachine race needs a marriage counselor.

No, couples aren't splitting up due to the demands of preparing to race 2,000 miles from Big Lake to Nome to Fairbanks when the Iron Dog begins in February.

But many of the top two-racer teams are swapping partners or seeing one racer sit out the 2016 race across the biggest state in the union.

Only one of the top five teams to finish last year's Iron Dog is returning intact, the fifth-place tandem of Cody Barber of Willow and Brett Lapham of Wasilla. Such fidelity.

The other four? Splitsville baby. Defending champion Scott Faeo, 31, of Wasilla returns but his 2015 partner, Eric Quam of Palmer, is sitting out a race boasting a field of 41 entrants, the second largest in Iron Dog history.

This year's second-place tandem of Scott Davis of Soldotna, the greatest racer in Iron Dog history, and young Aaron Bartel are not returning either. Nor is the third-place duo of Marc McKenna and Allen Hill. But McKenna, a three-time champion, is hooking up with Faeo to form a duo that on paper looks daunting. "It sure looks like a powerful team," said Iron Dog executive director Kevin Kastner.

And the fourth-place father-son tandem of Andy and Brad George will see the 53-year-old father head to the sidelines while his 22-year-old son teams up with Robby Schachle, a 29-year-old rookie.

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Purse reaches $65,000

"It is a little unusual," said veteran racer Davis, who's raced the Iron Dog in four different decades. "Teams usually disintegrate or disband because they're not happy with their finish."

Not that there aren't good reasons to race in 2016, starting with a fat purse that will deliver $65,000 to the winners, up $15,000, and award an array of other prizes and cash to other top racers. So what explains the musical chairs?

"Call it a male soap opera," Kastner said. "There are all these marriages and divorces that just happen.

"Unlike some other professional sports, most of the people racing the Iron Dog have day jobs. They have lots of other things to deal with. I guess it's all just part of the drama."

And sometimes the drama means simply stepping away.

"I think I'm retired," said seven-time champion Davis, 56, who's been racing the Iron Dog since 1984 and winning since 1985 — and who, it should be noted, has used the R-word before. The last race he missed was 1996.

But even weeks after the 2015 Iron Dog, Davis was feeling every one of those years, even after he got out of the hospital. He raced most of the second half of this year's race with a ruptured spleen, collapsed lung, three broken ribs and a broken toe, but the Davis-and-Bartel team finished just 46 minutes behind Faeo and Quam.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, I'd say his pain level was 11," said Bartel. "There were times he almost couldn't talk.

"If that hadn't of happened, it would have been a different race. We would have made it exciting."

'Mechanical genius'

Defending champion Faeo's father, John, is tied with Davis as the winningest racer in Iron Dog history with seven titles.

Faeo's partner in victory, Quam, 45, couldn't be reached for comment about sitting out the 2016 race. Last year's victory was the second for the racer Davis called "a mechanical genius."

"I just got the sense that he wanted to go out on a high note," said Kastner.

Contact Mike Campbell at mcampbell(at)alaskadispatch.com

Mike Campbell

Mike Campbell was a longtime editor for Alaska Dispatch News, and before that, the Anchorage Daily News.

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