Wieners compete for winnings

Hot Rod is a trash-talker. At the starting line, she lets out shrill barks, spins her tail and revs her engine by flailing her four stubby legs. Her owner, Mike Porcho, holds the 4-year-old dachshund while Kathi Porcho tantalizes her with a special food at the end of the racetrack.

Hot Rod was Grand Wiener at the 2007 dachshund races that Paws at the Coffee Mill hosts every month and every week through Oktoberfest, when the store crowns the champion. Often, Hot Rod is one of the dogs to beat.

At 3 p.m. the third Sunday of every month and every Sunday through September and October, Old World Village in Huntington Beach turns into a wiener-dog race track.

In heats of two — or four during Oktoberfest when up to 70 dogs show up — these competitors scuttle down the track more quickly than most people expect and compete for prizes such as plaques and gift certificates.

The woman responsible for it, Inge McKellop, saw the short races grow rapidly and take on a life of their own.

“It was just a fluke that it did. Part of it is that it’s such a funny thought: wiener dogs running down a lane toward their favorite toy or treat,” said McKellop, who owns Paws at the Coffee Mill in the Village.

The next race will be Sunday, Father’s Day. McKellop says there are at least 30 dogs running each month and plenty of people to watch.

“We always get a couple hundred people, minimum,” she said. “During Oktoberfest, it’s jam-packed.”

It’s $1 for admission and $16 to race a dog, and the notoriety of the event has allowed McKellop to reduce hours at her store, which morphed from a coffee shop into a small-dog store after the races’ popularity exploded.

“We even sell dachshund coffee,” she said.

She never expected it to go that way when a small club brought in about 15 dachshunds 15 years ago to race them.

“They showed that the dogs actually can run,” McKellop said.

After that, the stubby little dachshund races took off, and McKellop had to take it on herself.

“People were just so crazy about seeing this stuff, and then people from this club didn’t want to come back,” she said.

She explained that they didn’t want it turning into a sport or spectacle like Greyhound racing, but McKellop and the Porchos don’t see it as comparable.

“It’s just for fun, and the dogs aren’t forced to do anything they don’t want to do,” Mike said.

Apparently, racing is in the Porcho blood, and it’s been passed on to their dogs. The only time the Porchos and their dogs, Hot Rod and Shelby Cobra, miss the races is when they help their son Stephen out at the drag races where he competes with his ’95 Mustang.

“These dogs are either winning or they’re coming in second or third,” Mike said.

Even when they lose out to their biggest competition, Sally, the Porchos say it’s become a bonding experience for their family, community and dogs.

“We’re going to do it as long as the dogs like it,” Mike Porchos said.

As McKellop says at the end of races, every wiener is a winner.

More information and listings of winners are available at www.wienerdogstore.com.