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The long and short of it ... by Jen Biundo, Staff Writer DATE: April 28, 2005 BUDA—Like Seabiscuit and Secretariat, like Mario Andretti and Dale Earnhardt, some names just scream of speed. Simba. Mo. Copper. Yet again, Copper took the gold in the Buda wiener dog races this weekend, repeating his 2001, 2002 and 2004 victories with the help of his Georgetown coach, Brian Shocklee. Dogs like Copper, are they born or are they made? Copper is so fast, all you see is a reddish brown blur as he jets towards the finish line. Copper takes a couple extra victory laps for the sheer joy of running. Copper just can’t seem to lose. The eighth annual wiener dog races, part of the Buda Country Fair sponsored by the Buda Lions Club, took the theme of Wieners of the Caribbean: Curse of the Short Legs. But there was nothing cursed about the biggest wiener dog race in Buda history, which organizers are calling a resounding success. With about 450 dogs running down the racetrack, or at least idly ambling around the starting gate, and an estimated 25,000 visitors of the human variety, this year’s turnout easily doubled that of 2004.“We’ve reached critical mass,” said Buda Councilmember and Lions Club organizer Jeff Coffee. “It was incredible this year. It was bigger, but in spirit it was the same.” The spirit of the wiener dog races is a combination of good silly community fun and serious fundraising for Lions’ Club charity programs. Though Lions members say they haven’t yet tallied up the totals and are reluctant to make an estimate, they guess that this will be a good year for themselves and the dozen other charitable organizations that participated. With just 30 active members in the Buda Lion’s club, Coffee said the event operates with “tremendous support from the local community.” Organizers attributed the skyrocketing turnout to increased media coverage, including $35,000 in advertising donated by Time Warner Cable and last year’s national spot on the CBS program Sunday Morning, which light-heartedly compared the small-town event to the Kentucky Derby. Elise Ballard, wife of Buda Mayor John Trube, introduced out-of-towners to the races with her short film “Lord of the Wiens: a Dachumentary,” which has been repackaged with snazzy new cover art and additional footage. True, it was the biggest year yet for the famed wiener dog races. It
also might go down in history as the year the wiener dog races became
deeply hip. Amidst a sea of families, a smattering of Austin’s young
bohemian set descended on Buda City Park, enticed by their taste for We saw the races in the paper and just thought it was so funny, such
a crazy pop culture phenomenon,” said Kaia Selene, who came down
from Austin’s east side on Sunday with her boyfriend, Aubrey Freeman.
The tattooed and pierced 20-somethings pulled up in Buda ready to “I love wiener dogs because their aspect ratio is hilarious,” said Annie Alonzi, a hot pink-dreadlocked 22-year-old Austinite. “And it looks like the dogs are really having fun out there.” Her friend Christopher Hays chimed in, “It just sounded weird.” The 2005 races introduced some new blood to the pantheon of wiener dog
contenders: Richie, who shares his Austin home with Beverly and Joe Juarez.
Last year, when Richie was barely a month old, the Juarez family took
him out to Buda to watch the races. He was too young to run back then,
just a puffball of a pup with a frantically beating tail and a thirst
for glory. “We knew he was fast, but we were scared of the competition,” said Beverly Juarez. She needn’t have worried. Richie’s dream came true this year. As a mere rookie, a dark Dachshund in the running, he placed third, upsetting Simba and trailing just behind the perennial champions, Mo and Copper. With experience under his collar, Richie’s a pup to watch out for next year. Mo, the 2003 champion, has ranked in each of the last four races, placing second this year. But as the crowd dispersed, Mo seemed more interested in her trusty red rubber ball than her towering trophy.“She did great,” said Mo’s owner, Heather Hodnett. “It’s funny. She doesn’t even know what it’s all about.” |