The day the Iditarod came down to 1 second

At the end of the 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1978, Dick Mackey edged defending champion Rick Swenson by a single second.

Judges ruled Mackey the winner because his dogs crossed the finish line ahead of Swenson's. Over three decades, Swenson would become the race's only five-time winner, while Mackey's sons Rick and Lance added their own championships to the family tree.

On Thursday, the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame inducted the photo finish as one of the state's great athletic moments.

They used whips in those days. Notice the whip in Mackey's right hand. It's too short to reach the dogs when he's standing on the sled runners.
And the comments @ the source are kinda interesting.

ROB STAPLETON / Anchorage Daily News archive
Dick Mackey runs in ahead of Rick Swenson on Front Street in a sprint to the Iditarod finish in Nome in 1978.

Fascinating. I remember a 1982 book on the Iditarod. It was a hell of a lot more Call of the Wild in those early days and whipping dogs was not considered unusual. That said, I’ve read that whips are still useful as a signaling and steering device, a skilled musher can just caress the lead dog with it to steer in this way or that in a blank whiteout and you do need to apply a whip violently in the case of a dog fight when they can kill or cripple each other in a matter of seconds.

I’ve seen quite a few Idita-documentaries when exhausted, pissed-off pooches stage a sit-down strike and a good lashing would not be out of place. However, I’ll admit the game changed big-time when the gals started winning and the late Susan Butcher (waaaaah!) became one of the winningest drivers. The undeniable female touch became the new gold standard and and the Law of Club and Fang became declasse.

Nevertheless, I’ve read that ‘09 has been one of the worst years for dog deaths in the history of the race, although most of it is being chalked up to a surfeit of inexperienced drivers, but violence still happens. From the stories I’ve read the exhaustion during the race moves into wig-out, hallucination territory and I’ve always assumed many drivers were running on meth.

This year is the first where the DRIVERS will be drug-tested so that’s finally being dealt with.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.