In the News Archives- July /Aug 2004

8/25/04-Media mogul David 'Coondog' O'Karma captures the spotlight again.  Check out his interview and great pic with the Canton Reporter.

8/22/04- David 'Coondog' O'Karma put up impressive numbers in winning the Yisplanti Heritage Festival's hot dog eating contest.  Coondog slammed down 16 hot dogs in a mere 6 minutes.  Congratulations to Dave on a great performance.  Even at 48, the Coonmeister is showing he got what it takes.

8/21/04- Congratulations to Don 'Moses' Lehrman on his recent hot dog victory in Saratoga Springs.  Don consumed 20 3/4 hot dogs to capture this victory. Don continues to show he is one of the best hotdog eaters in the country.

8/21/04-ChowHound Chapman easily takes first in  a two minute quarter pound hot dog eating contest at the 1st Palm  Beach Annual Bike Show in West Palm Beach, FLA.  Originally this event was scheduled to be a chicken wing eating contest but due to complications, hot dogs (no dunking) in a hoagie roll were substituted. 

8/15/04-Arnie 'ChowHound' Chapman finished well ahead of the pack in Keyspan Park (where the Brooklyn Cyclones play) during the 2nd Annual Applebee's Boneless chicken wing eating contest took place.  Also of note, the Lone Winger stunned the crowd with a second place finish beating out Gentleman Joe Menchetti, last years champ Pat and Eddie 'the Geek' Vidmar.  Top finishers were ChowHound with 3.5 lbs, Lone Winger 2.9 lbs, Gjoe 2.8 lbs, Pat 2.2 lbs, The Geek 1.6 lbs.    ARTICLE   PHOTO PAGE    PRESS RELEASES

8/14/04-Big may be better but it definitely didn't best America's top independent comp. eater Gentleman Joe Menchetti as he mounted the impressive challenge of Windmill's Gourmet Food's (windmillfastfoods.com) monster wiener in their 6th annual Hot Dog eating contest August 14th at Bar Anticipation (bar-a.com )in Belmar, NJ.   GJoe ate 15 5.5 ounce delicious magnum-sized dogs to narrowly defeat the 2003 Windmill winner King George van Laar who finished second with an impressive 14 and 3/4 Goliath dogs.  Rounding out the top four was newcomer, Kid Coney with 10.5 dogs and Long Island, New York's champion of chomp, Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman with 10.

8/7/04-Gentleman Joe takes Bratwurst crown. America's #1 Independent Competitive Eater, Gentleman Joe Menchetti wins Johnsonville Brat Eating Contest in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. In doing so, Joe demolished the previous world record for Bratwurst and established the new standard of 19 Brats in 10 minutes. Joe received $1,000 dollars and earmarked another $1,000 donation to the Sheboygan Jaycees. Also, Joe received a 5 1⁄2 foot trophy which he is still figuring out how to ship back home. Stay tuned for article to appear via Associated Press which was on hand to cover the event.

8/3/04-Congratulations to Gentleman Joe Menchetti at his recent victory at the Glory Days Pub in Bowie, Maryland.  Gjoe successfully ate 60 chicken wings in 5 minutes.  Unlike last year, Gentleman Joe avoided sudden death, making sure he was well ahead of the second place finisher ChopChop.  Gjoe's take home for 5 minutes was $1000.

7/31/04-In what seems like a shocking loss, Hungry Charles Hardy, losses to amateurs in the Old Bay Peel and Eat Shrimp Contest.  What made this loss even more shocking was that it was in the preliminary rounds of the ontest.   There have been unsubstantiated claims of unfair judging due to Hungry Charles' status as an elite   'professional eater'. (see Old Bay Peel & Eat Shrimp Contest; Conspiracy or Propaganda?)

7/31/04-Congratulations to Rich and Carlene Levevre on successfully being the first two eaters to conquer the 5 pound hamburger at JR Holhiers Sports Pub in Indianapolis, Indiana.  This dynamic duo of eating then drove to Ohio the next day and took 1st and 2nd place in the Watermelon Contest.  Rich Levevre, arguably the greatest steak eater of all time cautions anybody attempting the 5pound burger challenge to be ready for a fight. Unlike many other challenges, you have only 30 minutes to eat the 5-pound monster. Rich finished that bad boy off in 23 minutes and Carlene in 28 minutes.