SPORT REPORT

Peppy pigs are pretty popular performers, particularly when put through their paces. Pig racing is the country fair event of the season. Parking problems, sweltering heat and long lines are a small price to pay for the satisfaction of seeing 68 pounds of pure pig pounding 120 feet of track. Rounding the curves, fighting for the inside, storming the straights, all in six to eight seconds. Four pig posteriors pass in a blur, headed toward their motivating force: a single chocolate-chip cookie.

“There’s really no such thing as a thoroughbred racing pig, but some breeds are faster than others,” explains Bart Noll, a professional pig racer from Olympia, Wash., who has three eight-pig teams racing in fairs across the country. “They race until they’re about 6 months old. Then they get too big for the starting gate” and are auctioned off.

Noll’s company, the All Alaskan Racing Pigs, originated in North Pole, Alaska, and has been kicking up dust for the past six years. It’s one of five or six that tour the country during the summer, running in 30 or so exhibition races at county fairs.

Hundreds of pigophiles fill the stands and hang on the fences, enthralled. There are usually two preliminary heats, a race between the fastest piglets and then a “photo opportunity” race between the slowest.

“People will come by and tell us this is their favorite part of the fair,” says Gay Thrush, 33, who is the announcer for one of the All Alaskan teams.

Another porcine pack, Robinson’s Racing Pigs, will grace the L.A. County Fair in Pomona, which runs through Oct. 4, but the All Alaskan teams will be taking the curves at the Kern County Fair in Bakersfield beginning Sept. 23. Get your seats early because the shows are always filled to capacity. And don’t worry about cancellations. In case of a pulled hamstring or any other disabling factor, backup pigs are ready at a moment’s notice.

As Bart Noll says: “Rain or swine, the sow must go on!”