A dachshund is roughly nine inches tall and built long, which means it accelerates poorly, corners badly and, in a straight line over a short distance, is genuinely fast in a way that looks impossible. People have been racing them competitively in Southern California for decades. The sport has heats, a stakes race, an open, and a following.
The best part of a big event is often a smaller event happening inside it, on a different ticket, at an hour nobody checks. Tell Karpo what is on near you this month and get the parts worth setting an alarm for.
It happens at a Bavarian-themed village in Huntington Beach, in the middle of a nine-week Oktoberfest, and your Oktoberfest ticket does not get you in.
The two dates and the ticketing catch
There are two race meetings inside the Oktoberfest season. The Oktoberfest Stakes Race and Pet Expo runs on the second Saturday of October, ten in the morning until two in the afternoon. The Prince Ludwig Open Race and Pet Expo runs on the fourth Saturday of the month, same hours.
Both are ticketed separately from Oktoberfest itself. This is the detail that ruins the day for people who assume one admission covers the site, and it is worth stating plainly: the races are their own event with their own tickets, sold through the race organisation rather than the festival. If you want to watch the racing, buy for the racing.
There is a partial exception worth knowing. Outdoor dachshund races are included with admission on the Kinderfest Sundays during Oktoberfest — a smaller, more casual version than the two big October Saturdays, but genuinely included. If you want to see short dogs run and do not care about the competitive structure, that is the free-with-entry route.
What the morning is actually like
Ten until two is a four-hour window and the racing is not continuous — it runs in heats, with a pet expo alongside and long gaps in which several hundred dachshunds and their owners mill around a Bavarian village in Orange County. The gaps are the point. Anybody going purely for the sporting content will be confused; anybody going for the spectacle of the thing will have an excellent time.
The heats themselves are short. A dachshund covers the track in a few seconds, or does not cover it at all, which is a substantial fraction of the entertainment — the failure modes include stopping halfway, turning around, and running directly into the crowd. Owners stand at the finish line making noises that they would not make in any other context. It is unironically joyful and it is over quickly.
- Two race mornings in October, each 10am to 2pm: the Oktoberfest Stakes and the Prince Ludwig Open
- Both include a pet expo and are ticketed separately from Oktoberfest
- Outdoor races are included with admission on Kinderfest Sundays during the season
- Old World Village, 7561 Center Avenue, Huntington Beach
- Arrive early — parking and viewing positions both go before the first heat
Where to stand
The finish line is the obvious position and it is taken first. The more useful spot is a third of the way down the track, where you can see the acceleration and where the dogs that are going to give up have not yet decided to. Bring something to sit on if you are staying the full four hours, because the gaps between heats are longer than the heats.
If you are bringing your own dachshund to compete rather than to watch, that is a separate registration and worth sorting well in advance; these fields fill. If you are bringing a dog that is not a dachshund, check the policy first, because a pet expo and a race meeting have different rules about who may attend.
One further piece of etiquette that regulars observe and newcomers do not. The dogs at the start line are already at the limit of what they can process, and a stranger crouching down to greet one immediately before its heat is not the neutral gesture it feels like. Admire from the fence, ask before touching anything, and save the fussing for the expo afterwards, when several hundred dachshunds are standing around with nothing to do and their owners would genuinely like you to say something about them.
The village around it
Old World Village is a genuine mid-century curiosity: a Bavarian-styled village built in Orange County in the 1970s, with shops, a bakery, a German restaurant and a beer hall arranged around a pedestrian centre. It is not a theme park and it is not pretending to be Bavaria; it is a small commercial village that has been in continuous operation for half a century and now hosts one of the longest Oktoberfests in the country.
That context is why the races work here rather than reading as a stunt. The whole site is a slightly improbable proposition operating with complete sincerity, and a dachshund racing meet is entirely in keeping with it. Once the racing finishes at two, the festival hall is the natural next stop, and that is when the separate-ticket structure works in your favour — you have already spent the morning on site and the afternoon session is a decision you make afterwards rather than one you paid for in advance.
Practical geography: Huntington Beach is thirty-five miles from central Los Angeles, so a ten o'clock start means leaving early on a Saturday. The compensation is the beach, which is ten minutes away and at its best in the morning. A pier walk before the first heat is a better start to the day than a car park.
Practical notes
Dachshund races at Old World Village, 7561 Center Avenue, Huntington Beach. Two meetings in October — the Oktoberfest Stakes Race and Pet Expo on the second Saturday and the Prince Ludwig Open Race and Pet Expo on the fourth, both 10am to 2pm. Both require their own tickets, which are sold separately from Oktoberfest admission. Outdoor races are included with entry on Kinderfest Sundays during the Oktoberfest season if you would rather not buy a second ticket. Racing runs in heats with long gaps between them; bring something to sit on, arrive early for parking, and allow an hour or more driving from central Los Angeles.
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