Koch v. LeFevre

Carlene LeFevre squared off against arch rival Ron Koch in Tempe, AZ, for a seat in the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog eating Contest. Creating even more tension, rising rookie Mark Lyle flew in from Ohio for the event.

Anxiety overcame the crowd of 1,000 as these eating titans began the 12-minute contest. However, Ron Koch quickly established a one hot dog lead, which he held for the duration of the event, capturing the Arizona title and a new state record of 21 HDBs in 12 minutes.

Carlene finished second with 18 and Mark Lyle finished third with 13.5. Some in the audience speculated that cooler-than-usual hot dogs kept the numbers low. The Nathan's and Aramark staff performed admirably to accommodate the field of 20 eaters, and organizers actually had to turn away another dozen who had come with last-minute hopes of competing.