Jump to content

Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 216.139.155.239 (talk) at 14:59, 5 October 2006 (→Criticism). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Nathan's Famous Corporation hosts an annual hot dog eating contest at the site of their first restaurant at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. There are other hot dog contests but none are as famous or claim to have as long a history as the Nathan's hot dog eating contest.

History

According to oral history, in 1916, four immigrants had a Nathan's hot dog eating contest at the site of the first Nathan's Famous stand to settle an argument about who was the most patriotic, though it may have been a publicity stunt. After 12 minutes, Irish-born Jim Mullen had eaten 13 hot dogs and the other three contestants could not go on. Ever since, a 12-minute contest has been held every year on July 4, Independence Day at the site of Nathan's Famous's first restaurant. The contest used to be held at noon, but starting in 2004 the contest started at 12:40 p.m.. The contest was not held in years 1939, 1940, and 1941 as a protest to World War II, and in 1971 as a protest to civil unrest. In 1993 there was a one-time one-on-one contest under the Brooklyn Bridge between Mike “The Scholar” DeVito and Orie Ito.

In recent years, guitarist and songwriter Amos Wengler has performed one of the songs he had written for the contest. A person in a hot dog costume dances as Wengler plays. Some of Wengler's compositions are "Hot Dog Time!", "Hot Dogs, Hot Dogs" and "Where is the Belt?".

Rules

The International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) has overseen the contest since 1997 when the federation was formed. Rules used in the early days of the contest were different, but are largely lost.

During the contest roughly 20 contestants stand on a raised platform behind a 30-foot-long table with hot dogs and drinks. Most contestants choose water as their drinks, but other kinds of drinks can and have been used. Condiments are optional and are usually not used. After the hot dogs are grilled they are allowed to cool slightly so as not to cause any burning when eaten. Whoever eats (and keeps down) the most hot dogs and buns (sometimes abbreviated "HDBs") in 12 minutes is the winner. Partially eaten hot dogs count and the granularity of measurement is eighths of a hot dog. Any hot dog still in the mouth at the end of the 12 minutes count only if they are swallowed. Unlike the Wimpy National Hotdog championships in London, both hands may be used.

There have been controversies. For example, in 1999, NY1 news reporter Adam Balkin discovered by reviewing the tape that Steve Keiner jumped the gun and had eaten half a hot dog before the contest had officially begun. The judge, who was standing directly in front of Keiner, missed it or else Keiner would have been disqualified. According to the rules, the judges' word is final, so Keiner took first place despite the videotape. Editors of the website "speedeat.com" have accused some of cheating at the qualifiers where there is less scrutiny.

After the winner is declared, a plate with the number of hot dogs eaten by the winner is brought out. Winners receive a trophy, the coveted international "bejeweled" mustard-yellow belt (of "unknown age and value" according to George Shea, co-founder of the IFOCE), and a "year's supply" of Nathan's Famous hot dogs (actually, just two cases). There is no cash award, but sometimes a sponsor will give a prize to the winner, (as in 2004, when Orbitz donated a "travel package"). The belt rests in the country of the current winner. It is currently on display in the Imperial Palace in Saitama near the Nakazato Danchi campus, Japan and will remain there until the 2007 contest.

Contestants must be at least 18 years old to compete, but this rule has not always been in effect. Birgit Felden was 17 when she won the 1984 contest.

There are three ways to enter the contest - by being the reigning champion, by winning one of the qualifying contests for that year, or by being an invited celebrity. Note: In 2003 ex-professional football player William "The Refrigerator" Perry competed as a celebrity contestant. Though he won a qualifier by eating 12 hot dogs, he stopped eating 5 minutes into the actual competition having eaten just 4. George Shea stated on July 1, 2004 at a ceremony following a showing of Crazy Legs Conti's documentary that the celebrity contestant experiment will likely not be repeated.

List of Winners

Year Name First Second Third Notes
2006 Japan Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi 53¾ 52 37 Current World Record
2005 Japan Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi 49 37 32  
2004 Japan Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi 53½ 38 32 World record
2003 Japan Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi 44½ 30½ 29½  
2002 Japan Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi 50½ 26 25½ World record
2001 Japan Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi 50 31   World record
2000 Japan Kazutoyo "The Rabbit" Arai 25⅛ 24 22¼ World record
1999 United States Steve Keiner 20¼      
1998 Japan Hirofumi Nakajima 19      
1997 Japan Hirofumi Nakajima 24½     World record
1996 United States Ed Krachie 22¼     World record
1995 United States Ed Krachie 19½      
1994 United States Mike "The Scholar" Devito 20      
1993 United States Mike "The Scholar" Devito 17      
1992 United States Frank "Hollywood" Dellarosa 20      
1991 United States Frank "Hollywood" Dellarosa 21     World record
1990 United States Mike "The Scholar" Devito 16      
1989 United States Jay Green 14      
1988 United States Jay Green 13      
1987 United States Don Wolfman 12      
1986 United States Don Wolfman 12      
1985 United States Oscar Rodriguez 11¾      
1984 Germany Birgit Felden 9½      
1983 Mexico Luis Llamas 19½     Unconfirmed; a 1987 New York Times article states that the record in 1987 (pre-contest) was 17.
1981 United States Thomas DeBerry        
1916 Republic of Ireland Jim Mullen 13     Inaugural contest

Media coverage

Newspapers

It is typical for news sources that report on the contest to use punning headlines and copy such as "'Tsunami' is eating contest's top dog again", "couldn't cut the mustard" (AP), "Nathan's King ready, with relish" (Daily News) and "To be frank, Fridge faces a real hot-dog consumer" (ESPN).

Reporter Gersh Kuntzman of the New York Post has been covering the event since the early 1990's and has been a judge at the competition since 2000. Darren Rovell of ESPN has competed in a qualifier.

Film and Television

The Nathan's contest has been featured in these documentaries and television programs:

  • "Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest" (1997) - camcorder footage of Joe Terwilliger's 1997 qualifying attempt
  • "Red, White, and Yellow" (1998)
  • "A Hot Dog Program: An All-American, Culinary Cruise Through Hot Dog History" (1999)
  • "Gut Busters" (2002) Made for TV - Discovery Channel
  • "King of the Hill", "The Fat and the Furious" episode (2002)
  • "Footlong" (2002) - not the 2003 short film of the same name
  • "The Tsunami - Takeru Kobayashi" (2003) Japanese
  • "Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating" (2004)
  • "The Most Extreme", "Big Mouths" episode (2004) (Animal Planet)
  • "True Life" (2006) MTV documentary series

Starting in 2004, the contest began at 12:40 p.m. presumably because ESPN started covering the event live. In 2004, ESPN hired Windfall Productions (Ralph J. Mole, Exec. Producer) who used six cameras, a live New York City crew and a TV mobile unit to produce a one-hour network sports special about the contest. It was hosted by Gary Miller and was carried live in Times Square on the ABC "Jumbotron". Since 2005, Paul Page has been ESPN's play-by-play announcer for the event, with Richard Shea as analyst.

CNN's Jeannie Moos covered the contest on CNN in a piece called "A Different Story," (July 4, 1996). "VivaVegie" protesters could be seen in the background calling out the ingredients in hot dogs.

Other

The competition draws many spectators and worldwide press coverage as well as the occasional protest from The VivaVegie Society[1], a vegetarian advocacy group. In 2005 it was estimated that 11,000 spectators watched.

In June 2004 a three-story high "Hot Dog Eating Wall of Fame" was erected at the site of the annual contest. The wall lists past records going back to 1984 and has a digital clock, which counts down the minutes until the next contest.

Two days before the event is the "weigh-in and certification ceremony" hosted by the mayor of New York City and representatives from Nathan's Famous and IFOCE at City Hall Park in Manhattan.

The Japanese domination

The contest has been a national favorite since its beginning. Since 1997, a Japanese competitor has held the belt in all but one year (1999). In 2000, the first, second and third places were all taken by Japanese contestants (Kazutoyo Arai, 新井和響, 25; Misao "Beast" Fujita, 藤田操, 24; Takako Akasaka, 赤阪尊子, 22).

In comparison to some of the top contestants of the U.S. who are tall and fat, Japanese contestants (with one exception - Nobuyuki Shirota) are thin and not that tall. One explanation for the Japanese dominance may be Ed Krachie's "Belt of Fat" theory which states that the stomach fat of the larger competitors restricts their stomachs from expanding beyond a certain point. In 1998 Krachie wrote a journal article called "Can abdominal fat act as a restrictive agent on stomach expansion? An Exploration of the Impact of Adipose Tissue on Competitive Eating". It was rejected by all of the many scientific journals in the United States and Canada to which it was submitted.

Despite the collective will of the Americans to take back the prize, only 1 U.S. contestant has come close to Japanese records. The best U.S. competitor is Joey Chestnut, a college student from California. His 2006 tally of 50 hot dogs is 3.5 hot dogs behind Takeru Kobayashi's 2004 record of 53.5 hot dogs (a little under 13.5 seconds per hot dog). He finished with 52 hot dogs and came in second at Nathan's in 2006. Results from the 2006 Las Vegas qualifying contest give some degree of hope to American competitors that they will be able to wrest the belt from Kobayashi in future contests. Kobayashi is the only person in the history of the contest to win six competitions (2001-2006) in a row.

Kobayashi, like most of Japanese competitors, also competes in other (non-hot dog) eating contests in Japan. These Japanese contests were sponsored by TV Tokyo's (テレビ東京) TV Champion (TVチャンピオン), which is a weekly TV competition program whose themes used to include several eating contests, mostly long-distance, during 1992-2002.

Tactics and training

Each contestant has his or her way to eat hot dogs. Takeru Kobayashi pioneered the "Solomon Method" at his first competition in 2001. The method is to break each hot dog in half, eat the two halves at once, then eat the bun. Kobayashi does a hip-wiggling dance while he eats, which lead to speculations that it was part of his technique, but he insists he was just getting into the music. Table manners are not a part of the game. Carlene LeFevre hops to help get the hot dogs down. Contestants typically stand while eating or lean forward.

It is thought that high blood-sugar levels open the pylorus, the link between the stomach and the duodenum so some contestants eat sweets before the contest.

Most contestants avoid building muscles in the back or stomach. (Kobayashi's abdominal six-pack indicates he does not follow this practice.)

Because buns absorb water, some contestants prefer to drink as little as possible. Others dunk their hot dogs (or just the buns) in water and squeeze them to make them easier to swallow.

The idea of eating the hot dogs and buns separately was invented by Kazutoyo Arai and is sometimes called "Tokyo style" or "Japanesing".

Contestants train and prepare for the event in different ways. Some fast, others drink and purge large amounts of water before the event. Takeru Kobayashi meditates, drinks water and eats cabbage, then fasts before the event. Kevin Lipsitz formerly trained by having eating races with his dogs, but animal rights advocates convinced him to stop. Several contestants, such as Ed Jarvis, aim to be "hungry, but not too hungry" and have a light breakfast the morning of the event.

The IFOCE does not sanction home training and does not endorse any particular training methods.

Tim "Eater X" Janus is credited with being the first person to dunk in a liquid other than water.

Criticism

The contest has been criticized for glorifying overeating and for contributing to the obesity of its participants. Some competitive eaters object to the contest allowing eating buns and hot dogs separately and call for a return to "picnic style" eating. Some object to the IFOCE requiring a signed contract as a requirement of participation. Other contestants believe it is not fair that some purge the food right after the contests. Still others oppose the IFOCE's "judges ruling is final" policy in cases where videotape evidence shows the judges were wrong.

Although the contest is carefully judged and documented, the winner has never appeared in the Guinness Book of Records. Guinness listed Lynda Kuerth's result of 23 bunless hot dogs in 3 minutes 10 seconds from a 1977 Philadelphia contest as its hot dog record until the late 1980s. Guinness removed its "Gluttony" category in 1990, yet it still lists Peter Dowdeswell's 2001 achievement of eating 4 hot dogs and buns in 3 minutes at the Wimpy National Hotdog championships. Though the hot dog brand and the rules differ in the Wimpy contest, it is hard to believe that in 2001 eating 4 hot dogs and buns in 3 minutes (1.33 per minute) was considered by Guinness to be a greater accomplishment than Kobayashi's eating 50 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes in the same year (4.16 per minute). Kobayashi has appeared in Ripley's Believe it or Not! books. At least part of this may have to do with the Guinness book publishers being concerned of legal liability should an illness or death occur as a result of an eating contest.

Qualifying contests

Contestants need to win one of the qualifier contests held at various locations worldwide in order to compete. Contestants can enter at most 3 qualifiers per year. Once a qualifier has been won, the winner cannot compete in another qualifier in the same year. There can be no more than 15 contestants at any given qualifier (first come/first served). The first international qualifier was held in 1993. There are generally about 20 qualifying events. The first national qualifiers were held in 1997. Additional prizes are sometimes given to winners of qualifiers such as a paid trip to the July 4th contest.

The 2006 qualifying events

  • April 15, Southern Regional
  • May 18, Midwest Regional
    • NY, NY Casino, Las Vegas, NV
  • May 20, New England Regional
    • Nathan's, E. Hartford, CT
  • May 27, Memorial Day Regional
    • Independence Mall, Philadelphia, PA
  • June 4, Southwest Regional
    • Arizona Mills Mall, Tempe, AZ
  • June 10, Mid Atlantic Regional
    • MacArthur Center Mall, Norfolk, VA
  • June 17, Northern Regional
    • Mall of America, Bloomington, MN
  • June 18, Regional Qualifier
  • June 23, New Jersey Regional
    • Molly Pitcher Travel Plaza, Cranbury, NJ
  • June 24, Northwest Regional
    • Century Theaters, San Francisco, CA
  • June 24, NY Metro Regional
    • Long Island Ducks Stadium, Central Islip, NY
  • June 24, Southeast Regional
    • Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
  • June 27, NY Civil Service Regional
    • South Street Seaport, NY
  • July 3, Weigh-In
    • Mayor Bloomberg, City Hall
  • July 4, International Hot Dog Eating Contest
    • Coney Island, NY

United States cities that have hosted or plan to host qualifiers

Cities outside the United States that have hosted or plan to host qualifiers

Recent contest results

(Name is boldfaced if personal best)

Partial results from the 2006 contest:

Pos. Contestant Hot Dogs
1 Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (World Record) 53¾
2 Joey "Jaws" Chestnut (American Record) 52
3 Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas (Women's Record) 37
4 Patrick Bertoletti (Mohawk Record) 34.25
5 Tim "Eater X" Janus (Facepaint Record) 34
6 Chip "The Phenom" Simpson 33
7 "Humble" Bob Shoudt 30
8 Rich "The Locust" LeFevre 28
9 "Badlands" Booker 24
10 Patrick "from Moonachie" Philbin 23
11 Eric Denmark 22
12 Seaver Miller 22
13 Brian Subich 22
14 Crazy Legs Conti 21.33
15 Allen Goldstein 20.5
16 Robert Andersson 20
17 Hall Hunt 19
18 Kamil "The Camel" Hamersky 18
19 Kenji Oguni 16
20 Jed "One is Enough for Me" Donahue 1

Here are the results from the 2005 contest:

Pos. Contestant Hot Dogs
1 Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi 49
2 Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas (American record, women's record) 37
3 Joey "Jaws" Chestnut 32
4 (tie) Ed "Cookie" Jarvis / Keiji Oguni 29
6 Rich LeFevre 25.5
7 Carlene LeFevre 25
8 Ron Koch 23
9 Tim Janus 22.5
10 (tie) Eric Booker / Charles Hardy 22
12 Patrick "Pat From Moonachie" Philbin 20
13 Crazy Legs Conti 19
14 Joe LaRue 18
15 Don Lerman 15
16 Rob Burns 10

Here are some results from the 2004 contest:

Pos. Contestant Hot Dogs
1 Takeru Kobayashi (world record, Japanese record) 53.5
2 Nobuyuki Shirota 38
3 Sonya Thomas (American record, women's record) 32
4 Rich LeFevre 27.75
5 (tie) Ed Jarvis/Eric Booker 27
7 (tie) Ron Koch/Carlene LeFevre 22
9 (tie) Oleg Zhornitskiy / Jim Reeves 21
11 Joe LaRue 20
12 Allen Goldstein 19
13 (tie) Charles Hardy/Don Lerman/Dale Boone 18

A list of contestants (and their personal bests in qualifiers and the event itself)

50 hot dogs or more ("The Deuce Tre")

40 hot dogs or more ("The Double Deuce")

30 hot dogs or more ("The Tre")

20 hot dogs or more ("The Deuce")

10 hot dogs or more

  • Dave Levitt - 19.5 (#1 June 28, 1997 Jersey City, NJ Qualifier)
  • Allen "Shredder"/"The Protege" Goldstein (Plainview, NY) - 19 (#9 2004), 18 1/2 (#2 May 21 2005 East Hartford, CT Qualifier)
  • Pete Keough - 19 (tied #2 June 28, 1997 Jersey City, NJ Qualifier)
  • Joseph H. "The Professor" Terwilliger - 19 (tied #2 June 28, 1997 Jersey City, NJ Qualifier)
  • Bryan Miller - 19 (April 15, 2006 Sunrise, FL Qualifier)
  • Peter Washburn (USA) - 18.5 (1960's)
  • Simon Hopewell (Christchurch New Zealand) - 18
  • Bill "El Wingador" Simmons (Woodbury Heights NJ, USA) - 18 (2004? Philadelphia Qualifier)
  • Chris Eyre|Chris "The Crusher"/"The Hot Dog Hunk" Eyre (Newton/Vancouver, BC, Canada) - 17.75 (#8 2001?), 18.5 (2001? Rye? Qualifier)
  • Loren "Bubba" Yarbrough - 18 (#3 May 25, 2005 Atlanta Qualifier)
  • Dale Boone (Atlanta GA, USA) - 18 #11 2004
  • David "Coondog" O'Karma (Cuyahoga Falls OH, USA) - 17 (#7?/20 2001)
  • "Krazy" Kevin Lipsitz (USA) - 16.5 (200?)
  • Eric "Steakbellie" Livingston - 16.25 (#5 May 27,2006 Philadelphia Qualifier)
  • Curtis "The Rock" Sliwa (USA) - 16 (before 2001)
  • Carson "Collard Green" Hughes - 16 (#1 June 14 2003 Norfolk VA Qualifier), 14 (tied for #15/20 2003)
  • William "Wild Bill" Myers - 16 (#3 July 3, 2006 Coney Island (Keyspan Park) Thai Qualifier)
  • Leon "Justice" Feingold (1999), 15.5 (1999 Oceanside, Long Island NY, USA Qualifier)
  • Laurie Ginden - 15 (#1? 1975)
  • Al Valvo (Brooklyn, NY) - 15 (#1 1967)
  • Dominic "The Doginator" Cardo - 15 (Molly Pitcher NJ Qualifier)
  • Chris Coble - 15 (2004 Hollywood, CA Qualifier)
  • Bill "Black Tie Bill" Stobierski (Ansonia, CT) - 14 (1999), (? 2004 East Hartford CT Qualifier)
  • Jay Green - 14 (#1 1989)
  • James Dinkins (Apopka, FL) - 14 (#1 2004 Big Dog Derby FL)
  • "Beautiful" Brian Seiken (home page) - 13.5 (2004 Molly Pitcher NJ Qualifier)
  • Brian Davenport - 13.5 (2004 Molly Pitcher NJ Qualifier)
  • David "Boss Man" Kondik - 13.5 (2004 Molly Pitcher NJ Qualifier)
  • Jim Mullen (US) - 13 (1916) (first winner ever)
  • "Kid" Cary DeGrosa, The Las Vegas Lothorio (home page) (Nevada, USA) 13 (#1 May 28th 1998 Las Vegas Qualifier)
  • Robert "Don't call me Anderson" Andrusco - 13 (#3 August 22, 2004 Saratoga NY Qualifier)
  • Andrew "Skinnyboy" Lane (Denver, CO) (blog)- 12.5 (#4 2006 Las Vegas qualifier), 12 (#3 2006 Bloomington, MN qualifier)
  • Mike LeMay (South Windsor, CT) - 12.5 (2005 E. Harford, CT qualifier)
  • Don Wolfman - 12 (#1 1986)
  • William "The Refrigerator" Perry - 4 (2003), 12 (2003 Qualifier)
  • Charlie Otzel (Ocala, FL) - 12 (#2 2004 Big Dog Derby, FL)
  • Mike Graziano- 12 (Islip Ducks Stadium June 24th Qualifier)
  • Oscar Rodriguez - 11.75 (#1 1985)
  • John Thompson (Las Vegas, Nevada, USA) 11.5 (#1 1997 Las Vegas Qualifier)
  • ChowHound Chapman - 11.5 (6 minutes) (#1 1991 Rockaway Park, NY Qualifier)
  • Damien Yee - 11 (#1 2003? Boston Qualifier)
  • "Super" Paul Barlow, Jr. - 11 (Atlanta, Ga June 25 2005? Qualifier)
  • Eligio Gualano (Mamaroneck, NY) - 11 ( #1 August 18 2004 Mameroneck NY Qualifier)
  • Steven Leitheuser (Ballston Spa, NY) - 11 (August 22 2004 Saratoga NY Qualifier)
  • Sabatino "Sonny" Manzi - 11 (Molly Pitcher NJ Qualifier)
  • Kevin "The Kid" Sinclair - 10 (#1 1978), 5 (2004 Staten Island Qualifier)
  • Gerry Beyer - 10 (1997)
  • Barry Noble (United Kingdom) - 10 (1998)
  • Rob "Heart" Burns (Wolverhampton, UK) - 10 (#16 2005)
  • Curly Young - 10 (#2 2004 Tempe AZ, USA qualifier at Arizona Mills Mall)

Fewer than 10

  • Birgit Felden (home page)- 9.5 (#1 1984)
  • Mark Yarmarkovich - 9 (#2 2003? Boston Qualifier)
  • Jim Rose - (AZ) 9 (#3 2004 Tempe AZ, USA qualifier at Arizona Mills Mall)
  • Darren Rovell - 6 (MA Qualifier)
  • Dominique Encio - 5 (2004 Big Dog Derby FL)
  • John "One Dog" Watts - 1 (Fresno Grizzlies Qualifier)

Contestants and qualifier contestants with missing information

  • Lavrisa Sweeny (Ocala, FL) - (2004 Big Dog Derby FL)
  • David Campbell (Ocala, FL) - (2004 Big Dog Derby FL)
  • Sivaphol Tantianankul
  • Wayne "The Duke" Delduca (Westchester, NY) (2000)
  • Mike Richmond (New Rochelle, NY) (August 18 2004 Mameroneck NY Qualifier)
  • Ray "The Bison" Meduna (Tie #1 2003? Los Angeles Qualifier)- (WA,USA) (2003 Tempe AZ, USA qualifier at Arizona Mills Mall)
  • "Bayou" Boyd Bulot (Tie #1 2003? Los Angeles Qualifier)
  • "A young lady from Romania" - (Transylvania, Romania) (#1 2002 Tempe AZ, USA qualifier at Arizona Mills Mall)
  • Leon Feingold's sister (1999 Oceanside, Long Island NY, USA Qualifier)
  • Matthew Peterson (June 28, 1997 Jersey City, NJ Qualifier)
  • Floyd E. Bryand (June 28, 1997 Jersey City, NJ Qualifier)
  • Bobby Appleman (June 28, 1997 Jersey City, NJ Qualifier)
  • Jose Dellarose (June 28, 1997 Jersey City, NJ Qualifier)
  • Howard Winter (June 28, 1997 Jersey City, NJ Qualifier)
  • Kai Hoppmann (Bad Gandersheim, Germany)
  • Frederic Roller (Stuttgart, Germany) (1999)
  • Kevin Lamb (Vancouver, BC)
  • David Tasie (Vancouver, BC) (1999)
  • George "Garbage Gut" Glum (Portland, ME) (1999)
  • Godfrey Bertelsen (Belper, Derbyshire, England United Kingdom)
  • Larry "Bad Little Doggie" Butler (Tempe, AZ)
  • Brian Goldfarb
  • Syd "Mongo" Goldstein (NY, USA)
  • Gerta Hasselhoff (#1 1950?)
  • Rudman V. Libnitz
  • Stan Libnitz (Flushing, Queens, USA) (#1-2? 1930-38)
  • David "Moe Ribs" Molesky (Ohio) (#8?/20 2001)
  • Andrew Rudman (Brighton Beach NY, USA) (#1-2? 1930-38)
  • Marcus Steinhoff (Ureinsen, Germany)
  • Orie Ito
  • "Top Dog"
  • Ken "Tender Vittle" Tittle (2003 Atlanta, GA Qualifier)

Quotes about the contest

  • "My first time in the contest I only consumed 8 hot dogs and buns, and I didn't eat for the rest of the weekend. This year, I got up to 11 dogs, and still ate dinner that night!! Now that's progress!" - Paul Barlow Jr. after the Atlanta 2005 qualifier
  • "The Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest has become a highlight of America’s greatest patriotic holiday...It epitomizes the spirit associated with the start of summer each year." - Wayne Norbitz, president and COO of Nathan’s Famous
  • "My congratulations to the guy from Japan who won the hot dog eating contest. He ate 25 hot dogs in 12 minutes. He's the big winner. He'll receive a check for $1,000 and colon cancer." - David Letterman (7/7/2000)
  • "By the fifth one, they're going to start tasting bad -- no matter how good they are. Your mind says stop, but you have to find a way to get over that and keep going." - George "Garbage Gut" Glum (1999?!)
  • "Takeru Kobayashi is absolutely, and without question, the greatest sports eater who ever picked up a frankfurter" - Sonya Thomas
  • "That's not sport. That's stupidity." - Lou Piniella
  • "Abdominals are ruining the sport. If you want to succeed in competitve eating, stay out of the gym". - Mike "The Scholar " DeVito (7/5/2005)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nathan%27s_Hot_Dog_Eating_Contest&oldid=79658203"