Oil Patch Bits: Johnson wins both Iditarod awards from NAC

Northern Air Cargo said March 30 that for the first time ever, one musher won both prizes awarded at the Iditarod Mushers Banquet in Nome. William “Middy” Johnson went home to Unalakleet with both awards. The Northern Air Cargo Herbie Nayokpuk Memorial Award is determined every year by the race checkers along the coast from Unalakleet to Nome, the area comprising Nayokpuk’s Bering Straits Native Corp., and is awarded to the musher who most exemplifies the spirit that Nayokpuk brought to dog mushing and to the Iditarod. The checkers overwhelmingly chose Johnson for that honor this year. Johnson received a baleen trophy, a coat, and $1,049. The NAC 4-Wheel Deal is a random drawing in which each musher who finishes the Iditarod has a chance to win a new Arctic Cat ATV provided by NAC and Eagle River Polaris Arctic Cat. Johnson was also the lucky musher to pull the winning key and NAC is shipping his new 4-wheeler from Nome to Unalakleet. NAC is a proud to continue as a major sponsor of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.