Deb McLean is no motorcycle or snowmobile expert, she conceded on Monday.

Certainly not like her son, Darrick Johnson of Hayden, who she remembers bloodying himself in a crash as young as 14.

"He's a sled man and a bike man," McLean said with a chuckle.

Yet she is manning her son's recreation vehicle shop, Edge Performance, this week. There were few options, she said, after Johnson suffered serious injuries in the renowned Iron Dog snowmobile race this weekend, and is being treated at an Anchorage hospital.

"What do you think?" said McLean, a North Dakota resident, of how she was feeling on Monday.

But she imagined Johnson was probably feeling down himself.

After crashing his snowmobile on Saturday, the 39-year-old has been left with five broken ribs, a lacerated liver and a punctured kidney, McLean said.

Doctors are still running tests while he stays at Providence Alaska Medical Center, she said, but he's stable for now.

And disappointed about the race, she said. Stretching 2,000 miles from Big Lake to Fairbanks, the Iron Dog is the longest snowmobile race in the world, according to the event website.

"He was so hoping to place this year," McLean said.

Johnson, who couldn't be reached on Monday, had been racing Iron Dog for the sixth time.

Although his mother doesn't know all the details, he crashed on Saturday, nearly a week after the race began on the 19th.

With the help of his race partner, Don West of Rathdrum, Johnston managed to ride injured 15 miles to the next checkpoint.

"There wasn't any other thing to do," McLean said.

He has been coherent when talking to her on the phone, she said.

Johnson had been participating in the pro class, she said, noting that Todd Palin, husband of former presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, was also competing.

Johnson's friend and fellow snowmobile lover Tim Boal said the race is dangerous.

"It's a pretty manly race, 2,000 miles across the Yukon. I can't even imagine," said Boal, a Post Falls resident. "He's representing Idaho up there."

Johnson is prominent in the local snowmobiling community, Boal added. He said Johnson is generous in helping riders with their equipment, and even once turned up at Boal's door on Thanksgiving morning to make sure a sled repair was adequate.

"He's a really nice guy," Boal said.

McLean has created a bank account where folks can donate to help Johnson cover his medical bills.

Johnson was in the process of switching health insurance policies, his mother said, so neither were active in time for the accident.

"He is being kicked when he's down," she said.

Folks can donate to account 22009062 at bankcda.

Boal also offered McLean his 30,000 airline miles to visit her son, she said, but she declined so she could help run the shop and keep an eye on Johnson's two children, ages 7 and 3.

"He's their dad, so I think it's better that I be there," McLean said, adding that a good friend of the family is with Johnson in Alaska and will see him home eventually. "They're waiting for him to come home."