Nome’s Wilson Hoogendorn and Bubba McDaniel made a strong debut in the 2025 Iron Dog, unofficially claiming sixth overall in their rookie run of the grueling 2,500-mile snowmachine race. The duo, racing as Team 4, was also the highest-finishing rookie team in this year’s competition.
The Iron Dog, known as the world’s longest and toughest snowmachine race, saw Hoogendorn and McDaniel battle extreme conditions and mechanical challenges while making their way from Big Lake to Nome and back. Despite their newcomer status, they remained in the top 10 for much of the race.
The team set their sights on competing in the race only a year ago. McDaniel recalled sitting at the Subway in Nome last year as Iron Dog racers zipped by.
“I told Wilson, ‘Hey, be kind of cool to do Iron Dog sometime’. I've always wanted to do it growing up and he won the Nome-Golovin race so he got a free entry,” McDaniel said. “That was kind of the start of the line.”
Hoogendorn described competing in the race as the, “fruition of dreams”.
The duo put on a show while speeding through their home turf. For the segment between White Mountain and Nome, they set the fastest time of any team with at least one rookie and earned a $3,000 prize from the Bering Sea Lions Club.
After a day at home, the team stormed south toward White Mountain under complete darkness and set the second fastest segment of the entire field.
Following long layovers in McGrath and Whiskey Bravo, the team surged up the leaderboard on the way to the Big Lake finish line. They unofficially earned sixth with a course time of 60:51:52.
Moments after their arrival, Iron Dog Executive Director, Mike Vasser, gave each a turn on the microphone.
“Pretty tiring these past couple days, but we’re happy to be here,” McDaniel said.
“Super long course, Nome-Golovin felt short,” Hoogendorn said, adding that “dreams do come true.”
McDaniel said that the team received support from the entire region including friends and family in Kotzebue, McGrath, and Unalakleet.
“I’d like to thank everybody along the way, in the checkpoints, that helped us out,” McDaniel said. “There's a lot of people that made this all happen for us, and it'd be a long list to thank them all, but we definitely appreciate it.”
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