Can Hot Dog Champ Stomach New Rules?

The eye of the competitive eating world once again turn to Coney Island, N.Y. , where American hot dog champ Joey Chestnut once again takes on Japanese eating legend Takeru Kobayashi –- and both men look to break new records in gluttony.

But for either eater, it’s going to be doubly difficult --if not impossible -- to top Chestnut’s record of 66 franks and buns in 12 minutes. That’s because the Nathan’s Famous July 4th contest is now only 10 minutes.

Major League Eating – the sanctioning group of stomach-centric sports – says that newly discovered evidence shows that the original Coney Island contest, held in 1916, was just 10 minutes long, so it's chopped two minutes off the event.

Kobayashi, the diminutive six-time winner who revolutionized the sport and showed that short, skinny men can beat hefty eaters at the dinner table, is looking for a comeback. Last year, he was said to be hampered by “Jawthritis.”

I’ve stood just a few feet from Kobayashi in eating competitions, and I am a big fan of Joey’s. But my money is on the man from Japan.

Related:
• The World’s Top-Ranked Eaters
• Photos: The World’s Top Eaters in Action

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