While attempting to escape Kansas, I stopped for fuel and a break in the small city of Abilene, and noticed a sign telling me that it was the home of the Greyhound Hall of Fame.  How nice!  If I’ve spoken to any of you for more than five minutes, you know that I have a lovely Greyhound named Bonnie that I had to leave behind me (in a safe and loving home) in Australia.   I’ve never even seen a Greyhound race, and Bonnie never raced herself because, although she was fast, she couldn’t be bothered to chase the mechanical bunny, but I thought I’d take a look.  Oddly, it was across the street from the Dwight D Eisenhower Presidential Library, which is also in Abilene, Kansas.

When I walked in the door, I immediately felt at home, because Ginger was leading the welcoming committee!  She’s about 8 or 9 years old, and raced successfully enough that she was allowed to have a litter of five puppies last year.  She was then adopted out and came to live at the Hall of Fame (HoF) about 8 months ago.  She’s very quiet and sweet, although she seemed rather skeptical of me taking her picture at first until I proved that I knew proper Greyhound ear rubbing technique.

Gary was the rest of the welcoming committee, but he was younger and less interested in socializing.  He was pretty fast moving, I could only get an action shot of him, and he even managed to kiss me on the lips and get away before I realized it!

The HoF certainly wasn’t crowded — I was the only one there most of the time — and I wasn’t expecting too much, but was pleasantly surprised.  It provided an education about Greyhounds and the racing industry in the US, as well as the HoF itself.  Greyhounds are sighthounds, of course, one of the oldest categories of domesticated dogs.  To my eye they’re beautiful and elegant — bred for performance instead of looks, they’re where form meets function.

An old fashioned mechanical bunny was on display, this one having performed without an error from 1948 to 1987 at the Daytona Beach Kennel Club.

The main part of the building was of course the Hall of Fame — dogs (and some breeders and owners) who were high performing or significant to the industry.

There were aisles and aisles of their pictures, descriptions, and trophies.

Real Huntsman (1963) was the oldest inductee I saw, but some dogs are so famous that even I recognized their names, like Talentedmrripley (2008), who in 79 starts never once finished under 5th place.  After he retired in 2002, he was apparently a greeter at the HoF!  I would have loved to meet such a famous star!

The most recent Greyhound inducted was Flying Stanley (2016), who is the world’s top earning Grey, earning over $680,000 while racing.  He also sired over 1,000 other racers, including Glen Gallon, an Australian racer who won over $500,000 on the track.

There was a small international section, which included Chief Havoc (1974) from Australia.

Given his record as a sire, it’s very likely that my Bonnie is also descended from this superstar!

Since Greyhound racing has never been much on my radar, even after having Bonnie, I don’t think I quite realized what a huge sport it is!  This is just a very small sample of some of the trophies.

I particularly liked the section that provided some education about the dogs themselves.  It started out as nicely informative….  (Bonnie is a fawn brindle)…

… it got a little bit creepy, but ok, still informative…

… and then jumped a notch to kind of absurd… but still oddly informative.  I wonder if I can get a print of this for my wall?

There was, of course, a nice gift shop.

On the way out I spent some more time with Ginger, who had now recognized that I have both skill and experience at ear rubs, and even let me give her a little back rub.

I love these little people.  Such beauty, talent, sweetness, and intelligence in one elegant package!  What’s not to love?