Bleacher sections cheer loudly as their designated piggy — Kevin Bacon, Brad Pigg, Lindsay Loham or Kim Kardashingham — streaks to the finish line.
If you’ve been at the San Diego County Fair in the past 18 years, you know the drill at the Swifty Swine Races: the hammy puns and the lap of the track.
But first, owner and announcer Zach Johnson of Dallas, divides the close-to-the-action Durante Area arena into four sections and appoints a “cheerleader.” He or she wins a plastic pig snout and a package of cookies if their designated porker wins.
Weekdays races are at 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:30p.m., 4:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Weekend shows are 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Durante Area next to the Del Mar Arena.
Here’s everything you always wanted to know about the family fave.
Times of San Diego: How long do the smaller pigs race?
Johnson: Three to four months, and then they are donated to Future Farmers of America and 4H kids who raise them and show them at a future fair. The market pigs soon get too large for racing and are market weight in about six months.
How difficult is it to train a pig for racing?
It takes four to six days of chasing them down the 150-foot track and showing where the cookie is to be ready for the shows.
Pigs are super smart. People don’t understand how smart they really are.
Once the pigs figure out that the fastest gets to eat an Oreo at the end of the track, they just race around the track and don’t stop.
The rest of the time, the pigs eat high protein pig pellets because “they are athletes.”
What does it take to be a good racing pig?
When you are looking for a good racing pig, you’re looking through 300-400 pigs before you find a good racer. You’re looking for Secretariat in a pig.
You want a good slender front end for the corners but want a nice beefy rear end for explosion out of the gates. And once you have found that pig, you have found a champion.
You’ve got to be very selective because people don’t want to see a pig that doesn’t race. We’re looking for speed out here. People want to see a thrill show in a pig race. And that’s what we give them.
What motivates the pigs?
It’s the food, the crowd and the exercise. I think it is really competition because you will see some of them later on (in the season) coming from behind and beating the first-place pig.
They don’t always stop for the cookie. They just want to be first. There’s something about it.
What is the temperament of the racing pigs?
They’re just like everyone else. Some are short-tempered; some of them are easygoing. Some of them like to race.
When the season gets going and they know it’s time, they’ll try to jump out of that pen and race around the track. They love it. They really do.
Which breed of pig is the fastest?
In spring, we tried something different. [Someone gave Johnson and his wife some wild pigs from Texas] and we raced them.
They were superfast. They made it around the track in about four seconds flat, which is about a second and a half off the time of most market pigs.
They’re natural-born racers, wild as all get out.
Do the pigs react to the crowd?
Sometime they do. They’ll hear the crowds out there cheering when the show starts, and they know it’s time for them to come out and perform. Some try to jump out of the starting cages before the race starts.
Some of them are glory hogs.
They’ll come out and do 360s and people will start cheering for them.
I don’t know how they understand what to do or that something is funny, but sometimes they’ll just do 360s around the track just like chasing their tails.
What was the craziest thing in a show?
In the spring, [while Johnson and his team raced wild pigs in Beaumont, Texas], a pig jumped the fence and took off toward the crowd.
That was like a circus. I had 400 people chasing that pig around the fairgrounds and that one was just not going to be caught by anybody.
They finally cornered it by a chain-link fence and brought it back to the show.
How old are the pigs?
Swifty the swimming pig is 5 weeks old, and some of the pot-bellied pigs are 2 years old.
How long to pigs live?
If they are not sold for meat, they can live to be up to 15 years old and can weigh up to 1,500 pounds.
The pot-bellied pigs can race for three to four years before they are retired to petting zoos owned by my parents.
What breeds are used for racing?
They use Durocs, Yorkshires, Hampshire market pigs, and pot-bellied pigs. While the pot-bellied pigs are black, the others are white or a black/white mix. Mixed breeds are easier to train than purebreds.
How did you get started racing pigs?
My wife and I saw another pig race. After we were engaged, we thought we could build a better pig race.
We travel from fairgrounds to fairgrounds to perform and have shows from coast to coast.
The best part is when you get a crowd that really gets into it and wants to cheer on their pig, and have a good time at the fair — and that’s what we are all about.
