Greyhound Racing

West's wife, Audrey, has made him put most of his dog racing trophies in storage. She says there wasn't room for them anymore, but they also serve as a painful reminder of what they've lost. The dog kennel behind their house now functions as a storage unit, where the couple keeps their power tools and gardening supplies. Their house is a modest, ranch-style place with a well-trimmed yard and plenty of space for a dog to run out back.

These days, West spends most of his time on his car dealership, which is thriving in Gonzales and even more so on the Internet. "My main business is the dealership," he says. "If I didn't have that, I'd be starving to death. We couldn't exist in a small town if it wasn't for the Internet. I have to give credit to my sons for having that market in mind."

His two sons, Ferd Jr. and Mark, grew up around the greyhounds but never had their dad's full-blown passion for racing. While father and sons worked at the same dealership, it was easy to differentiate between the two Ferd Wests. "If people called for junior," West Jr. says, "it was for cars. If they called for senior, it was for greyhounds. I grew up with a pooper scooper in my hand."

These days, Ferd West Jr. focuses on selling cars online, through eBay and Auto Trader for the family dealership. "The reason I quit was that I turned 16 and started chasing women," he says. Cars, it seems, impressed the ladies more than the dogs.

russell.cobb@houstonpress.com