Buckle Up for Turtle Racing at Little Woodrow’s

I mopped my brow as the stiff summer breeze did little to alleviate the sweltering heat on the porch of Little Woodrow’s 6th St. location. I bit my lower lip and placed my ticket stub in bucket two. Standing next to a bucket in the middle of a small area with a checkered circle, BDOE started the count, “One…two…THREE!” His assistant lifted the bucket and six turtles scrambled to the checkered outer ring.

I clenched my ticket in anticipation of victory, but it was not to be. I bet on #2, a turtle named Soup. Soup decided it wasn’t worth his while to even move in any direction. The folks who placed their tickets in #3’s bucket were stoked, since that little guy beat feet to the checkered finish line. I hung my head, resolved to win the next race.

How the Race Works

I ran into BDOE, a DJ on KLBJ FM, during the ROT Rally. He told me about an event that’s been going on at a couple of Little Woodrow’s locations here in Austin since April. It’s called Turtle Racing.

Now, if you’re familiar with the old story of the tortoise and the hare, then you’d know that the tortoise wins. Heck, even in the Bugs Bunny version the tortoise wins. So how does it work when all the racers are turtles (I know they aren’t technically tortoises, but humor me)?

To find out, you have to go to either the Little Woodrow’s South Park Meadows location every Thursday or their W. 6th location every Friday.

I went downtown to check out the action. My biggest question was about the track. What did it look like? Isle of Mann? NASCAR? Turns out, it’s a circle.

Okay, with that question solved, I needed to know how the races work, how the winner is determined and so on. BDOE, who was on emcee duty the night of my visit, was quick with the details. “The turtles do four races. The first turtle to win two heats in each race, wins the race.”

That made sense to me. So the race began with the turtles being gently place in a bucket with no bottom in the center of the ring.  On the count of three, the bucket was lifted and the turtles…raced. Well, some of them took off, while others remained in the center, trying to decide if forward motion was the best course of action.

Even though a turtle may make a beeline towards the finish line, it must actually cross it to win. In one race I saw, #3 (aka, Lil’ BDOE) almost made it to the finish line, changed his mind, and reversed course back to the center of the ring, allowing Boris to cross the finish line in victory.

How to Win

Another question I had was how human winners are determined. I saw about 60 people put their support behind one of the six racing turtles. If Boris the Turtle wins his race, then the several people who supported him are also winners, right?

Wrong. Here’s how the human winners are determined: Before each race, the organizers hand out a blue ticket to anyone wanting to play along. The player tells the organizer which bucket to place his or her ticket in. Of course, each turtle has a corresponding bucket.

After the winning turtle is determined, a ticket is pulled from that turtle’s bucket. The person holding the other half of the ticket is the winner. Ta-da!

Blue tickets aren’t the only ones being handed out, though. Red tickets are given to people who donate to Austin Pets Alive! – a local charity that helps save the lives of companion animals through foster families and other resources. This charity has famously helped Austin to become the largest no-kill city in the country.

The red and blue tickets are mixed together in whatever turtle’s bucket the participant wants to support. So while donating to a charity is good thing, the extra tickets also increase a person’s odds of winning Little Woodrow’s giftcards and t-shirts. It’s a win-win.

So What’s Stopping You?

In a nutshell, going to Turtle Racing at Little Woodrow’s is a great reason to hang out with friends, meet new ones, drink from a massive beer selection, and support an amazing charity like Austin Pets Alive. Even better, the season started in April and ends in November, so we’re only reaching the halfway point.  There’s still plenty of time to participate in the shenanigans.

 

@The_DT_Show asks:  

What other odd bar events have you attended in Austin?