Carnival race with pot belly pigs (video)
Steve says:
LinkAfter seeing the crazy and weird carny photos, I thought I'd link to a video my friend made while we were at the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee. Some guy goes around the country with his pig race spectacle. It's a bizarre scene that has a number of races including ducks, goats and pot belly pigs. I've linked to the very quick pig race. Never a dull moment at the State Fair.
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NPR did a nice piece on the carnival pig racers a month ago.
I saw this a couple years ago at the Broome County fair in Whitney Point, NY.
Oh the happy hours I've spent watching pig racing. I'm from Nebraska, so pig racing at a State Fair or Ag related event is pretty common. I wanted to point out that these aren't pot-bellied pigs...it looks like they're your garden variety piglet...probably destined for your plate later in the year.
I think the reward of choice for the piglets is oreos! The pigs are wild for 'em. I think I've seen this particular operation. All I can remember is a pig they named after Hillary Clinton. In the South, they love terrier racing, which takes place at high-society events like Steeplechases. In Huntington Beach, California, where I live now, they're wild for wiener dog racing!
I remember a outfit called Robinson's Racing Pigs that I used to see every once in a while about 10-15 years ago in Florida. If you Google the name, then you should find a little more info.
I saw this exact guy at the DuPage County Fair in Illinois a few years ago. What I remember was that he is extremely passionate about his pig racing. He also claimed multiple times to have been featured on Jay Leno and/or David Letterman's show, which I can neither confirm nor deny.
Wow what a surprise to see this I was at the Wisconsin State Fair too, he was also racing goats. A couple pics
On the other end of the spectrum, they've discontinued the "biggest boar" competition after one of the monsters died of heat stroke at the fair. My favorite champion hog weighed in at over 1100 lbs. and was affectionately (and appropriately) named "Balls".
Here's a race video:
It's not just one guy who goes around the country doing pig races. My uncle does a ton of state fair business, including pig races, ostrich races, camel rides and petting zoos.
Maybe I'm biased, but I think my uncle's pig races are better than this guy's.
In my opinion there's only one true place to watch pig racing. Where I'm from every year we wait in great anticipation for the celebration of all things porcine - The Preble County Pork Festival in Eaton Ohio.
The reward at the end is always Oreos. The slogan for the festival is "Pigs are Pretty". It would be more appropriate as "Pigs are Delicious".
Extreme Craft pointed out that these are not pot bellied pigs and indeed they are not. I posted the link and my friend had also recorded the pot bellies, but they were not as interesting, and too slow.
I will also point out that the whole set up was very religious. There was posted scripture all over the race track. It helped add to the weirdness.
These don't look like potbelly pigs - just regular pigs! :-)
One of the most entertaining shows ever was 'Robinsons Racing Pigs'....saw 'em at the Winn-Dixie Rib Fest near Raleigh 'back in the 90's'. We still proudly display the refrigerator magnet we got there!
During a stint at a geology field camp near Red Lodge Montana, friday night pig races at one of the local bars was arguably the best entertainment around. Several races per night with 4-6 pigs each, and plenty of drinking and gambling (the proceeds going to fund a worthy local charity/civic organization, of course).
I saw this guy and his pigs (and goats, and ducks) at the WI state fair for the first time this year. There was actually a race with Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, but they aren't the ones shown in this video.
One of the corporate sponsors provided free meat snacks for everyone who went to see the races. Sadly, these were beef and not pork...
a variation, but at the florida state fair (in addition to alligator wrestling and the "dancing chickens"--chickens placed on a piece of electrified metal grating; you'd pop in a quarter to complete the circuit, "hilarity" ensued) we had armadillo races. somewhat different, as it involved a number of kids choosing an armadillo each and crawling on all fours behind it, blowing on their tails to make them run faster, but fun. i won one year.
so yeah. pig racing? not all that weird, really.
Every year at the Cabarrus County fair in North Carolina, we have Robinson's Racing Pigs and Robinson's Pig Paddling Porkers... pigs that swim! The middle of the race track features stairs and a pool. Robinson needs to teach them to ride a bike so we can have Robinson's Porcine Triathlon.
During the Cabarrus County fair, Robinson's is sponsored by... Troutman's Barbecue. And if you know anything about Carolina Barbecue, you'll know how wrong that is.
Here's video of Robinson's Racing Pigs.