He is well known for rescuing other mushers along the Yukon Quest trail throughout his dogsled racing career. Sass was in fifth place at the time of the disqualification. In 2016, Brent Sass was trying to leave the White Mountain checkpoint, 77 miles (124 km) from Nome but his dogs would not leave the checkpoint.
He was going to be in 3rd place, but because of this problem he finished in 20th place, losing $44,175 in prize money.
In 2011, the rescue efforts of Sass and his then-lead dog Silver at American Summit in blizzard conditions led to the introduction of the Yukon Quest"s Silver Award that recognizes sled dogs that have performed acts of heroism on the trail. In 2012, Sass participated in his first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and earned Rookie of the Year honors. In 2015, Sass won the Yukon Quest in nine days, 12 hours, and 49 minutes. He also competed in the 2015 Iditarod, but his quest to become the second musher to win both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year fell short as he was disqualified from the Iditarod for possessing an iPod Touch during the race. The iPod Touch was deemed a prohibited two-way communications device due to its built-in Wi-Fi Internet connectivity feature.
