More than 1,700 people attended the Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals on Saturday to help raise money for the Seal Beach Animal Care Center.
“It was about average for us,” said Jim Welch, a 20-year volunteer with the Friends of the Seal Beach Animal Care Center.
Welch said the 17th annual edition of the event, held at the Los Alamitos Race course in Cypress, earned about $20,000 through the sale of event tickets, t-shirts and hats for the animal shelter in Seal Beach. The event has raised nearly $250,000 for the Seal Beach Animal Care Center since 1996.
“We appreciate the support of the race course,” Welch said. “They have been very much behind this event for all of the 17 years. It’s the best moneymaker we have, mostly because the profit margin is so good. We really don’t have much other costs other than for the banners we have that go across the street and the city permits for them.”
“We do very well,” Welch said. “Especially considering that kids under 17 years old get in for free. We were packed this year, with about standing room only.”
Welch said the money from the race events, which feature the spry, little Dachshund breed of dog, goes into the Animal Care Center’s general fund.
“Our biggest expense is or the animals’ medical care,” Welch said.
There was plenty of excitement as the races unfolded.
This year’s race winning wiener dog was Mr. Schnitzel of Newbury Park, who came in second place last year, behind Penny Lane.
Penny Lane, who won the race twice in a row, sat out the event this year.
The 3-year-old chocolate colored dachshund posted the race of his life in the 50-yard finale, as he passed Laura Scully’s quick weenie Tootsie while also holding off a huge late surge by Brittany Hayes’ Riley to win the $1,000 cash prize and the title of “Fastest Wiener in the West.” Mr. Schnitzel will now compete in the national finals to be held in San Diego later this year.
A total of 88 dachshunds competed in this year’s event.
Mr. Schnitzel will get all the spoils of being a champion according to his owners.
“We’ll probably make him filet mignon and a 12 pack of weenies for dinner,” said Luis Hernandez with a smile. “We might even get him a sports car and a trip to Hawaii we are so happy right now.”
Riley was the doxie that Luis and his wife, Lois, feared the most going into the final.
“When we first started watching wiener races in Huntington Beach, Riley was winning a lot of races,” Lois said. “When we saw that Mr. Schnitzel was facing him in the final, we were nervous. We knew that he was going to be very tough to beat.”
Mr. Schnitzel had the goods to be champion on this night. Tootsie left the starting gate sharply from post seven, but Mr. Schnitzel took command with about 10 yards to go after leaving the gate from post five. Riley would have probably won if the race had been 60 yards.
“We actually found out that Mr. Schnitzel and Riley are related because they come from the same breeder,” Lois Hernandez added. “When you look at them together, the two of them do look alike. There was a very fast genes in that family of dachshunds.”
Brittany Hayes’ Riley of Huntington Beach earned $500 for running second. Also qualifying to the championship race were Lisa and Maurice Chevalier’s Truffle from Costa Mesa, Ellen Dusch’s Chloe of Mission Viejo, Kevin and Caprina Hodge’s Chloe of Northridge, Jennifer and Ken Yandoli’s Kaia of Glendale, Lori Ottoson’s Oodles of Noodles of Riverside, Vicki Hayes’ Bella of Santa Ana and Richy Taylor’s Sammi of Los Angeles.
