If your racer is last, you get the red lantern.

t /stupid Iditarod joke

Allyson's scenario sounds plausible. As does the idea that there has to be more money in it than just the $32 mil, else why do it?

Maybe it's sponsored by Shell, Mobil, Chevron et al?

As does the idea that there has to be more money in it than just the $32 mil, else why do it?

I don't know. I would think (and pray that I find out someday) that if you have a LOT of money, it wouldn't be about the money, but about winning.

The sponsor thing makes sense. It hadn't occurred to me that the person running this race might actually be "people" and that those people wouldn't all have the same goals. I don't like the idea of rich people playing with our characters like mice, but I'm probably meant to feel that way.

Remember about a month ago how Donald Trump and Vince McMahon had a bet going over a boxing match and the winner would get to shave the loser's head? I think the race sponsors are like that, but on a bigger scale.

It would have been a wrestling match, no? And what ever happened with that?

Hee. Exactly. The 32 million is just the purse - I'm guessing the insider stakes are a lot bigger (and less straightforward).

Right, wrestling. IIRC, Vince's guy lost, and so The Donald got to shave his head on TV after the match.

Remember about a month ago how Donald Trump and Vince McMahon had a bet going over a boxing match and the winner would get to shave the loser's head? I think the race sponsors are like that, but on a bigger scale.

yes, exactly.

Seems like a different (and much more compelling) game that way, given the stakes involved.

Yeah, but then you have the whole issue of why don't the sponsors just send somebody to shoot and run over the other compeitors. Although maybe they will.

I hope that the finish of the race is actually up in the air rather than fixed the way wrestling is.