Chili Bowl 2008

Two icons together again on 'National Chili Dog Day'

Meera Pal , wtop.com

WASHINGTON - They're two of America's favorite foods: Hot dogs and chili. Bring them together and it doesn't get much better.

Thursday celebrates the union of these two iconic foods with National Chili Dog Day.

The annual holiday, celebrated the last Thursday of July, began about seven years ago with the support of Hard Times Café . The restaurant helped petition for the chili dogs' special day.

To celebrate the unusual holiday, the local restaurant is giving away a free chili dog with a purchase all day Thursday. Click here for locations .

"We sell hundreds of thousands of chili dogs a year," says Doug Welsh, vice president of marketing for Hard Times Café. "It doesn't matter how hot it is people will eat chili dogs."

"We call it the chili dog days of summer," he says.

Hard Times offers their "world famous" chili dogs in three styles: the traditional Hard Times Chili Dog includes a 1/4 pound all-beef dog with choice of chili, shredded cheddar and onions; the Authentic Coney Dog includes two all-beef dogs with Cincinnati chili, shredded cheddar and onions; and Fred & Jim's Grilled Half Smoke includes D.C.'s original half smoke covered with chili and cheese.

Wells says customers can get any of Hard Times' four chilis on a hot dog. They also offer a vegetarian option.

Welsh says the perfect chili dog depends on "the quality of the chili and the right amount of chili. If you put too much chili on you lose the dog. Not enough, and it's all dog."

But, he says the secret ingredient is mustard, which integrates with the chili to add another layer of flavor.

In D.C.'s U Street neighborhood, Ben's Chili Bowl is also celebrating the day with their signature chili half-smoke featuring a 1/4 pound half pork and beef smoked sausage on a warm steamed bun, topped with mustard, onions and their spicy homemade chili.

According to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council , Baltimore/Washington ranked 4th last year in top hot dog consuming cities. Topping the list is Los Angeles, followed by New York and San Antonio/Corpus Christi.

The Council celebrated National Hot Dog Day on Wednesday with its annual Capitol Hill Hot Dog lunch.

More fun hot dog facts:

In 2010, consumers spent more than $1.6 billion on hot dogs in U.S. Supermarkets.

Americans will eat enough hot dogs at major league ballparks this year to stretch to and from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and Tropicana Field in St.

Chili Bowl 2008: Demonized | National Speed Sport News

TULSA, Okla. — Less than 24 hours after winning his first midget feature, Damion “The Demon” Gardner captured Saturday night’s 22nd annual Dodge Chili Bowl Midget Nationals at Tulsa Expo Raceway.

The 2005 USAC-CRA Sprint Car Series champion led the final 39 laps, driving Jason Leffler’s No. 71g Stealth/Ford-Esslinger before a standing-room-only crowd of 16,329 and an HBO Pay-Per-View audience.

Polesitter Josh Ford jumped into the lead, setting a torrid pace, and began lapping the tail of the star-studded field by lap nine of the quarter-mile indoor dirt track. One lap later, Gardner rode the cushion exiting turn two, passing Ford for the lead. Thursday night feature winner Brad Kuhn passed Ford for second one lap later, but made contact with a lapped car on the 13th lap, spinning to a stop.

Gardner and Ford quickly pulled away from the field, but their half straightaway lead was erased when Kasey Kahne suffered engine failure on lap 17.

Four additional cautions between laps 20-28 for stopped cars kept the field tightly bunched. Ford, winner of the Wednesday-night feature, saw his victory hopes end when he jumped the cushion on lap 24. Ford restarted and finished 14th.

During each restart, Dave Darland and Shane Cottle tried to remain close to Gardner, but excellent restarts gave Gardner a comfortable lead each time. Running the cushion, Gardner did a masterful driving job. The tricky track saw Gardner jump the cushion a few times, giving competitors their only hope of catching him.

“I tried to run good, smooth laps instead of fast laps,” said Gardner afterward.

A three-car accident with eight laps remaining saw pre-race favorite Jerry Coons, Jr. flip, and set up one last chance for Darland and Cottle to make a run at Gardner. Gardner executed one last perfect restart and was never challenged over the final eight laps.

Darland, driving the Nine Racing Toyota, finished second, followed by Cottle, Bryan Clauson and Jon Stanbrough.

Second B feature winner Kevin Swindell, Brady Bacon, who spun on the opening lap, defending race winner Tony Stewart, 2005 winner Tracy Hines and Nathan High completed the top 10. Leffler finished 17th in the feature.

“Jason is really excited. Three weeks ago we weren’t even going to do this and hopefully we can take this momentum and continue on through the year,” said Gardner, who drives for Leffler’s team in the USAC National Sprint Car Series. Gardner’s previous best Chili Bowl finish was 10th in 2003.

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