Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NEW YORK, July 4 (UPI) -- Takeru Kobayashi of Japan took home the Yellow Mustard Belt for the sixth time in six years, winning the hot dog-eating contest at New York's Coney Island. Kobayashi, who weighs in at 160 pounds, broke his own record on the July Fourth holiday, downing 53 3/4 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the event sponsored by Nathan's Famous, WINS Radio reported. That was one-quarter of a hot dog better than his previous record, set two years ago. Advertisement Joey Chesnut, 220 pounds, a civil engineering student from California, came in second with 52 hot dogs. Chesnut got off to a fast start, but Kobayashi proved that victory in speed eating goes to the slow and steady. "I hit a wall -- I just got tired," Chesnut told ESPN, which broadcast the event live.
