Beijing may have the Summer Olympics, but the Napa Town and Country Fair has racing pigs.

These athletes don’t compete for the gold. Instead, they will earn only a handful of grain at the end of the race — and the applause and laughter from Napans who line the track.

On the opening day of the Napa Town and Country Fair, Sourdough Jack brought home the bacon.

The little porker, one of eight pigs who comprise the All-Alaskan Racing Pigs ensemble, won the first of many pig races that will take place at the fair this year.

Fairgoers can root for their favorite pigs three times a day, every day until the fair closes on Sunday night. Racers shoot out of the starting gate at 1:30, 4 and 6:30 p.m.

About 60 squealing fans were on hand as the blond-haired Yorkshires with floppy ears scooted around the U-shaped track during the first race on opening day.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life — pig races. It’s hilarious. Isn’t this great?” said Suzanne Swallow, as she and her husband Stephen watched the pigs enter the starting gate.

Pigs race in fours, with the top two finishers in each heat coming back for a championship run.

Following the two first rounds Wednesday, the championship race included No. 5 Strawberry on the outside position, then No. 2 Sourdough Jack and No. 6 Spiderham. No. 3 Kobok held the pole position.

The announcer declared it was “A Pork Chop Show Down.”

The race was over in the blink of an eye — about 15 seconds. It was Sourdough Jack taking the blue ribbon by a snout.

Becky Gonzalez, and her son Tony, 6, made sure they had an close-up view of the pigs, arriving 20 minutes early.

To stay cool in the summer sun, mom and son enjoyed free vanilla ice cream cones compliments of the Clover-Stornetta booth next to the pig track, near the Third Street entrance to the Napa Valley Expo.

On the other side of the pig track is a different sort of animal experience — RyAnn’s Happy Day Pony Rides. Pony rides are $6 a pop.

“This is fun, fun, fun,” said Tony Gonzalez, jumping up and down just prior to the championship race. He had pinned his hopes on Strawberry.

“We haven’t seen a pig race before,” said his mother. “I thought this was gong to be 4-H kids with their pigs, not imported pigs from Alaska,” Becky Gonzalez said.

All-Alaskan Racing Pigs is a family-run business, operated by brothers Chad and Donald Noll. They travel from fair to fair in an enterprise launched by their father about 20 years ago in Fairbanks, Alaska. Today, the All-Alaskan Racing Pigs are based in Eugene, Ore.

The Nolls travel to about 11 fairs a year. Prior to coming to Napa, the racing porkers were in Orange County. Up next, the pigs’ home fair in Lane County, Ore.

The racing pig’s career starts at about 16 weeks and peaks at about six months.

So what’s the trick to teaching a pig to race?

“It’s all about food; that’s what motivates pigs,” said Chad Noll.