Pro Class teams gear up for 40th running of Iron Dog

Sleds sit ready for the start of the 2023 Iron Dog Snowmobile Race. The 40th running begins Feb. 17, 2024.

With less than a week to go before race registration closes for the World’s Longest, Toughest Snowmobile Race, racers are already beginning race prep and eagerly awaiting the first good snowfall.

 As of Oct. 10, 22 Pro Class teams have signed up to race, with a full lottery of Expedition Class riders gearing up for the one-way trek to Nome. Registration closes for Pro Class racers this Friday, Oct. 13, while registration for open Expedition Class spots will re-open between Oct. 23 and Nov. 24 to fill any remaining spots – if there are any to be had, said Iron Dog Executive Director Mike Vasser.

The 2024 Iron Dog Snowmobile Race is shaping up to have the largest purse in race history, thanks to increased interest from sponsors and supporters.

“This is the 40th running of the Iron Dog, and the big thing about that is it should be the biggest field of entries we’ve ever had,” Vasser said. “We are pretty confident we are going to leave on Feb. 17 with a completely full field.”

 The 2024 race is scheduled for a Saturday Feb. 17, 2024, departure of the Pro Class, with Expedition Class riders following immediately after the pros leave. Traditionally, the Expedition Class has left ahead of the Pro Class in a smaller, less fanfare-filled affair. But this year, the pros will lead the pack.

 “With this being the 40th running of the race, we want the Expedition Class to be celebrated as well,” Vasser said. “Having both classes depart on a Saturday should give us a chance to put on a larger-scale celebration and event that fans, racers, sponsors and vendors are excited about.”

 Also, Vasser said, the combined departure is more cost effective for the organization.  

 “Operationally for us, it’s one set-up and one take-down of the race chute,” Vasser said. “It’s too much labor at a time when we are very busy.”

 The change in schedule also will help the checkpoint volunteers, he added.

 “Across the entire race, our checkpoints, which are primarily staffed by volunteers, are burdened with multiple days of in-and-out racers, so this should help cut back some of the long days spent by having classes on the trail so far apart,” he said. “Our hope is to gain some efficiencies across the board while putting on a bigger, better show at the start, in Nome and the finish. How great will it be to potentially have 100 riders arrive in Nome on Front Street?”  

 The finish, too, will look a little different in 2024. Racers will arrive back to Big Lake on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024, rather than the traditional Saturday finish.

 The 2024 field of pro racers has changed too as the 40th running approaches with several new teams and riders making manufacture switches. Longtime racing partners and Iron Dog champions Chris Olds and Mike Morgan are parting ways – Olds is retaining the Team 10 designation with new partner and family friend Ryan Sottosanti, while Morgan and Bradley Kishbaugh will make up Team 6. Last year, Sottosanti and Kishbaugh were partners on Team 6. Kotzebue racer George Lambert is back again too, after his 2023 race was cut short early. He is pairing up with his cousin Skyler Wells as Team 33 and promises to be a crowd favorite, especially when they race into their respective towns of Kotzebue and Noorvik. Team 5’s Zach Weisz is returning too after taking a sabbatical last year to ride the Expedition Class with his father and uncles. He and Kruz Kleewein are pairing up for the first time. 

 Olds said while the racing combo may be new, he and Sottosanti have spent many an hour riding and training together.

 “Ryan and I get along really good together,” he said. “It will be different with a new partner, but at the same time, it’s something new and it’s exciting to try something different.”

 After more than 20 years of racing, Olds said he is often asked how long he will continue to race.

 “For me, it has always been for as long as I’m having fun,” he answered. “I expect this year to be really fun, maybe a little bit lighter than in the past, where you’re expected to win. When you switch partners, there’s a lot of uncertainty on how things are going to play out, so the expectation is to do good, not so much to win.

 “I will continue to race, and so will Ryan, because he is very competitive. But I’d also rather make it more fun and make winning a secondary thing.”

 One thing that does not appear to include much change is Team 7.  Team 7’s Nick Olstad and Tyler Aklestad are back to defend their title. This is their fifth year racing together, having won three of their last four attempts. With the snow still yet to arrive, they haven’t gotten into full race mode yet, but they are preparing early, as is their custom.

 “I’ve been doing it for 19 years so it’s kind of just normal life,” Nick Olstad said. “For Tyler and me, we work on our sleds as soon as we get them. We try to get all that stuff done on the sleds before the first of the year, and then you’re stress free.”

 Tackling their pre-race maintenance early also allows them to have a life outside of racing.

 “Last year, we weren’t in the shop past 7:30 on any night,” he said. “I’ve been there before, when you’re working on your sled the night before the race, and it’s not fun, so we get it all out of the way.”

 Vasser said it appears there is an industrywide shortage of race sleds that has left some want-to-be pro racers scrambling to find the machines they need to compete. 

 “We’ve heard talk about new chassis that were coming that didn’t and teams that thought they were getting sleds (it’s not uncommon for racers to have sleds provided at a discount), who didn’t,” he said. “I would speculate from what I’ve heard, that as many as 28 sleds could be used for teams to practice and race that just don’t appear available.”

 Olstad said he is thankful for Ski-doo’s backing of Team 7. If successful in the 2024 race, it would be Aklestad’s fifth win and Olstad’s seventh – putting Olstad in an elite class of racers that include just two other seven-time champions: John Faeo and Scott Davis.

 “I don’t know how I’ll feel if that happens,” Olstad said. “I just like to go out and ride; it would be nice to get that seventh win, but I’m not focusing on it.”

 The 40th running of Iron Dog will stay the course it has for the past four years, which includes the popular Red Dog Loop, which travels north from Koyuk up to Kotzebue and back. In 2023, racers departed from Koyuk in a clockwise direction around the loop. In 2024, they will head counterclockwise from Koyuk, passing through Selawik, Kiana and Noorvik before arriving in Kotzebue.

 Back at headquarters, Iron Dog personnel are working to make the 40thanniversary race one for the record books. Interest continues to grow, and Vasser said sponsors and supporters are eagerly stepping forward to help make the race a success. In 2021, the purse grew to over $150,000 and by 2023 had reached over $200,000.

 “We’ve probably seen about a 10 percent increase in sponsors this year,” Vasser said. “Thanks to them, for this year’s purse, we are still shooting for a quarter of a million.”