Veteran racer still waiting to finish

GENE JANSEN/For the Frontiersman

BIG LAKE - Big Lake sheet metal contractor Warren Bumgarner has yet to finish an Iron Dog race, but he is striving for the respect a clean run of the world's longest and toughest snowmachine competition would bring.

During the 2004 Iron Dog, between Nome and White Mountain, Bumgarner injured several ribs and sustained a collapsed lung, ruining any chance to complete the race after the fourth try.

Just like any competitor with the gumption to once again stand up to an adversary that has previously beat him down, Bumgarner has hopped on his Yamaha 2002 700cc Viper, ready to endure another wilderness mission to complete and perhaps compete for a respectable finish. It is never easy to predict how the cards are going to fall in any race, especially when the bust card keeps getting turned face up.

"That's the reason I am still so nervous," Bumgarner said at the race inspection Saturday afternoon. "It's like gambling. "

Although the machines his team is using have already seen 2,000 miles of tough Iron Dog trails in a previous race, his new racing partner from Anchorage, Mack Bergstedt, approaches the race with ease.

"I'm like a race-car driver," he said. "I show up and everything is ready to go."

Sled manufacturers like Polaris, Ski Doo and Arctic Cat use the Iron Dog as a testing ground for new tracks, shocks and motors while sponsoring some of the world's fastest snowmachine racers.

It is not uncommon for riders to travel 350 miles through deep powder and bone-jarring tundra before taking a break. Navigating through recent heavy snowfall may be a challenge for most of the machines because they have been primarily built for speed, not deep snow.

Anchorage snowmachiner Marc McKenna said his Arctic Cat team will shoot straight for McGrath before resting and moving on as long as the front runners keep a fast pace.

"We're ready for whatever comes our way," McKenna said. "At the upper part of Shell Lake, there's not a lot of passing lanes. Hopefully (slower riders) will pull over and let us by."

McKenna has teamed up with a new partner, Wasilla's Nick Olstad, who was a last-minute substitution for Tyler Aklestad of Palmer.