A cruel hoax was perpetrated on the contestant, spectators, and Aunt Jemima at Wednesday's first annual Quincy House Pancake Eating Contest, The official winner, the Raccoon, admitted that an integral part, in fact the only part, of his training had been smoking a drug known as marijuana. He also said that he had had two joints before the contest.

This is a foul by any rules, and Dancer's Image was disqualified for such an infraction after winning the 1968 Kentucky Derby. A post-race urine test revealed Dancer's violation, and if Larry DiCara and others of Wednesday's officials had been on the ball, they would have gotten a urine sample from the Raccoon, also known as Rick Tarnas, and then disqualified him.

The circumstances are somewhat different. First of all. Dancer's Image is a horse, and the Raccoon is a man. And though both were led into their sin through their trainers, the distribution between species makes it clear that there was more chance of premeditated drug-taking by Tarnas. He must have known that was smoking those joints and that this is strictly prohibited in that it gives him an unfair advantage over his red-blooded American opponents.

Another difference was that the horse in question won with a strong finish. The Raccoon showed himself to be a voracious eater at the outset, but when the going got tough, he had trouble eating the final pancakes and was not still enjoying them as the rest of us were. He crawled across the finish line in a manner hardly befitting a champion.

Unfortunately, the Quincy contest was not sanctioned by the American Pancake Eaters Association (A.P.E.A.), so its rules and violations committee cannot take charge and disqualify Tarnas while declaring the rightful winner. The A.P.E.A. has had to protect itself against such addicts. and Rule XII, section 2a of the Association's bylaws reads: "No contestant shall be admitted if under the influence of marijuana." Barton, Sir Flap-Jack, and I knew this rule as card-carrying members of the A.P.E.A. and did not resort to such stunts no matter how badly we wanted to win, and let me make this perfectly clear-we all wanted to win.

So the A.P.E.A.'s hands are tied; it can do nothing to stop this injustice. It is up to Quincy House to act on the illegal affairs of Wednesday afternoon. Granted, Dancer's Image was stripped only of the Kentucky Derby crown, whereas Tarnas would be forced to surrender the Quincy House Pancake Eating championship, But he deserves the punishment. Honest contestants must not be made victims of such trickery.

My position on this controversial issue ought not to be misconstrued as sour grapes. Even if DiCara agrees to take the title from Tarnas and give it to Barton, I would still be only third. Of course. I was under duress after the harassment I had suffered in the days leading up to the contest. The night before sitting down to the table, Barton and his nefarious trainer, Mcltzoff, had snatched me from my very bed at 2 a.m. and raped me. It is my understanding that even Dean May doesn't have to put up with such tactics. And the time limit did not suit my pancake eating style. But I admit to having lost fair and square and can only console myself with the fact that I outbreed everyone at the table.

It is striking testimony to the hot and cold, the good and bad, in our everyday existence in this society when we can see a good citizen like Tiny Tim marry beautiful Vicky Budinger the same day that a 19 year-old dope fiend cheats his way to a pancake eating title. Dancer's Image was forced to surrender the top prize at the Kentucky Derby, and in view of this clear precedent, Quincy House should strip the pancake title from the Raccoon. Aunt Jemima would want it no other way.