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Atlanta man breaks record for Hillbilly Hot Dogs’ Homewrecker

November 22, 2009 @ 09:10 PM

LESAGE -- It's a good thing you aren't inviting Dale Boone to Thanksgiving dinner.

Boone of Atlanta came to the Tri-State Casino and Resort in Cross Lanes and took out an entire pumpkin pie in 32 seconds recently.

And you won't believe what he had for a main course.

On Friday, Nov. 13, Boone, ranked as the world's No. 1 eater by World League of Competitive Eaters, quietly rolled over to Hillbilly Hotdogs in Lesage and demolished David Francke's nearly four-year-old record of eating the restaurant's monster 15-inch Homewrecker hot dog in four minutes.

Boone, whose nickname is "The Mouth of the South," destroyed the hot dog (topped with Jalapenos, nacho cheese, mustard, onion, tomatoes and coleslaw) in 3:45.

Boone said that he had the 15-inch-long and 1-inch in diameter kielbasa and then all the toppings taken care of in about 1:30 but got slowed down by the bun custom-baked by Brunetti's. He said he dunked the bun, already soft from the toppings and sauce, a couple times to finish the feat in record time.

Sonny Knight, who owns and operates Hillbilly Hotdogs with his wife Sharie and her two sons Brandon and Vance Swallow, said they didn't take Boone seriously when he first called.

Boone, a 10-year veteran of professional eating, called wanted to know what the record was.

"He said 'I will be there and I am coming to break the record,'" Knight said. "Well, we hear that a lot and once they see the Homewrecker, they're like oh crap. But he came in saw it and said 'I will guarantee that I will beat that,' and we said 'well come on' and he did."

Knight said he and Sharie had just left when Boone stopped by. By the time they got back Boone, who has appeared on "The Tonight Show " with Jay Leno, "The Weakest Link," "National Geographic," CNN and ESPN, was already finished.

Boone holds 23 eating records according to the World League of Competitive Eating Web site. Boone said that's not completely updated since there are several more he has to add after this summer of traveling to festivals around the world.

Among his culinary-cramming feats, Boone (6-foot-1, 300 pounds) has eaten: 100 oysters in 2 minutes; 17 corn dogs in 5 minutes; 115 sushi in 10 minutes, an 18-inch Chicago Stuffed Pizza in 3 minutes; 21 Jalapenos in 3 minutes and last but not least -- 28 1/2 Reindeer Sausages in 10 minutes, a feat recorded in the TV movie "GutBusters in Alaska" that aired on the Discovery Channel.

Boone said he's had his eye on Hillbilly Hotdogs for a while after seeing the Food Network show about the restaurant's Homewrecker and their big burgers, the Singlewide and the Doublewide.

A professional eater for the past 10 years, Boone said he was in the region for a pumpkin pie eating contest Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Tri-State Casino and Resort in Cross Lanes.

"We've got some family members up this way who we hadn't seen in a while so we went ahead and planned the trip to visit them and if we got lucky win at the casino," Boone said.

Boone, who won the $1,000 grand prize for eating the pie, said he wasn't sure if he was even going to get into the casino contest since they drew the 50 contestant names out of a hat.

"He's a great joker the man upstairs," Boone said laughing. "When I got my name drawn all the other professional eaters heard the name and let out this moan. A lot of them had driven a long way just for the chance to compete."

Boone, whose feat of eating 44 doughnuts in 12 minutes will be in the new "Guinness Book of World Records," is cramming for a good cause. This year he's raised more than $4,000 for a Christmas program buying presents for kids in Bangladore, India, where the competitive eaters group kicks off its annual competitions. He's traveling to India in late December and will be playing Santa himself.

Boone said he loved visiting the Tri-State, fell in love with Hillbilly Hotdogs, and plans to be back to try and take on the Singlewide record of 16:31.

"That's one of the most unique places I have ever been to," said Boone, "and I have been blessed to go around eating in places as far as Australia and Japan and India and Hawaii. Of all those places I have been eating in before I've never seen one that was so down to Earth."

Knight said Francke should be proud his record stood for so long.

"Six minutes and 10 seconds was the closest that anybody ever got to David's record and that was a couple years ago," Knight said. "Everybody has been around that eight to 12 minute-mark ... but this is the first time any one of the professional eaters has come through. Most of the guys and girls they're just locals that have seen us on TV and come by. Dale said they are always looking for these kinds of things especially one of a kind things like we have."

Professional eater Dale Boone, of Atlanta, holds several world eating records, according to the World League of Competitive Eaters. He recently set a new record by eating Hillbilly Hotdogs' Homewrecker hot dog with all of its toppings in 3:45.

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