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Published: May 26, 2008 at 6:00 AM

Indy family stages toy car 'mini-500'

INDIANAPOLIS, May 26 (UPI) -- It isn't the Indy 500, but the toy car race staged annually by a set of 11 Indianapolis brothers is an intensely competitive "mini-500," they say.

The Guynn brothers celebrate their semi-annual remote-control car rallies and races on a sophisticated backyard model racetrack complete with a computerized lap counter and stoplight alerts, the Indianapolis Star reported Sunday.

The Guynn brothers, who range in age from 40 to 60, were set to hold their 18th annual open-wheeler Monday -- a 500-lap event around the model track. The newspaper said the leader of the racing group is eldest brother Charlie Guynn, who tolerates little dissent and in the past has ejected his brothers from the race "for driving like Mr. Magoo."

The Catholic family even invites a priest from their church to give an invocation at the beginning of the race, the Star reported.


Snake-fearing firefighter called for boa

TORQUAY, England, May 26 (UPI) -- A firefighter with a lifelong fear of snakes was called to a home in England to free a 6-foot boa constrictor trapped behind a radiator.

Owner Nicola Bewer of Torquay in Devon County said she called emergency services after the snake -- named Chaos -- became stuck, the BBC reported.

Snake-fearing Watch Commander Alan Gilson led the rescue effort, the British network said.

It took about 40 minutes to release Chaos unharmed.

"I do not like snakes, they are one of my childhood fears," Gilson said. "I did get my hands on the snake as I thought it was a good opportunity, but the experience has absolutely not cured my fear."


Mother of two wins hotdog-eating title

PITTSBURGH, May 26 (UPI) -- A Maryland mother of two was recovering Sunday after eating 29 hotdogs in 10 minutes to win a Pittsburgh-area contest, a report says.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette identified the winner as Juliet Lee, 42, a Maryland native, as the winner of Saturday's Iron City hotdog-eating championship. Lee weighs only 105 pounds and defeated competitors who went by handles such as Steak-bellie and Wing Kong for the title, it said.

Lee may have been a ringer, however. The woman is a nationally ranked hotdog-eating competitor who is next moving on to Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest in Coney Island, N.Y., the newspaper said.


Man sells 'ghosts in a bottle'

ORLANDO, Fla., May 26 (UPI) -- The one thing you don't want to do when you buy a ghost in a bottle is open it, says a Florida man who makes the novelties with the help of "ghost catchers."

That would let the ghost back out, said John Deese, who vows that his team finds the ghosts in "haunted establishments, cars, hotels, maybe even graveyards." The St. Augustine, Fla., man told WKMG-TV of Orlando, Fla., they then stuff the captured spirits into bottles, which he sells on the Internet.

The first ghost was caught in a farmhouse in Decatur County, Ga., he said. Asked how a ghost is bottled, Deese told the station, "Well, if you went to KFC, you wouldn't ask for (their) secret recipe."

Prominently displayed on the bottles is the warning "open at your own risk."

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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