Todd has failed to win the Iron Dog since 2007. When he doesn't break his snowmobile, he breaks a limb or something.
The team of Huntington and Olds crossed the finish line of the 2,000-mile snowmachine race in Fairbanks at 5:51 p.m., Saturday, about 18 minutes ahead of the second-place team of Todd Palin and Eric Quam. Palin’s hometown is Wasilla, while Quam is from Palmer. Palin and Quam were actually in the lead coming down the homestretch into Fairbanks, but Palin suffered a mechanical issue that allowed Huntington and Olds to pass them.
“We had all kinds of neck-and-neck and back-and-forth going on,” said Iron Dog Executive Director Kevin Kastner. “At one point, (Marc) McKenna and (Dustin) Van Meter were blasting along and they went into the drink. In the end, the net result that ended up making the decision was Palin had an accident and nearly tore the ski off his sled.”
So much bad luck... As the non-girly sidekick of a very famous person, there are too many eyes on his team and they can't resort to some of their tried and tested tactics anymore.
There were other rumours about charming Todd kicking competitors' fuel cans and other nasty bits and pieces, but who knows?
There are lots of smaller teams without big sponsors, who don't have multi-millionaire wives. They compete fairly and find it galling to be beaten by cheaters. Marc McKenna's team is one of them. One of his small sponsors was very upset in 2007 and it was not for political reasons. It actually upset him even more when the news of Todd's team cheating hit the news and gave the liberals ammunition against his governor.
I believe that in the old days Todd competed hoping to win the prize money, it made a difference to him back then. I'll leave you with this video of an endearing young lady talking about her husband's win in 1995. Classy gal...
It looks like Todd's luck has run out and his aspirations of being a winner are going the same way as his wife's...
(Pat on the back for me. I managed to write a whole post without typing a certain name once. It might not do me any favours as far as the search engines go, but I don't care, it feels so good not to type her name...)