Chestnut unseated in hot-dog-eating contest

Chestnut unseated in hot-dog-eating contest

NEW YORK

Matt Stonie shocked the competitive-eating world Saturday by upsetting Joey “Jaws” Chestnut at the Fourth of July hot-dog-eating contest at Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island, thwarting Chestnut’s bid for a ninth-straight victory.

Stonie, 23, who finished second last year, downed 62 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, beating Chestnut by two. Both are from San Jose, Calif.

As thousands of spectators observed the eaters on an elevated stage, the next- closest competitor ate 35 hot dogs.

“I trained hard for this. This is actually amazing,” Stonie told ESPN, which broadcast the competition live like the major sporting event its biggest fans say it has become.

Afterward, Stonie, holding his fist in the air in victory, said he came into the competition confident and prepared in his quest for the $10,000 prize and the coveted mustard-yellow winner’s championship belt.

Chestnut, 31, smiling in defeat, said he was slow and couldn’t catch Stonie, who entered the match weighing just 125 pounds to Chestnut’s 230 pounds.

“I’ve been looking for competition for a long time, and I finally have it,” he said, vowing to return next year. “He made me hungry.”

NASCAR distances itself from Trump

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA.

NASCAR is the latest corporation to distance itself from Donald Trump.

On the same day one of its top sponsors called on NASCAR to take a stance against Trump, the motor-sports series said it will not have its season-ending awards ceremony at the Trump National Doral Miami.

“We looked at everything we saw coming down and what we heard from our sponsors and our partners and what we feel we should be doing, and that’s what led us to the decision today,” NASCAR spokesman David Higdon said Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

A message seeking comment from Trump left by The Associated Press was not returned.

Higdon was responding to a letter released by Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis, whose company is the title sponsor of NASCAR’s Truck Series. Lemonis made it clear he would not attend or participate in the awards ceremony if it took place at a Trump property. The ceremony was held at Doral last year.

Diana Douglas dies at 92, was Kirk’s 1st wife

LOS ANGELES

Diana Douglas, the first wife of Kirk Douglas and mother of Michael Douglas, died Saturday in Los Angeles. She was 92.

Douglas died of cancer at a motion-picture industry retirement home in the Woodland Hills neighborhood, according to an obituary from Michael Douglas’s production company, Furthur Films. It cited Diana Douglas’s husband of fifteen years, Donald A. Webster of Washington, D.C.

Born in Bermuda, Douglas was an actress and model who appeared in dozens of movies and TV episodes. As a model, she was on the cover of Life magazine in May 1943.

Kirk Douglas, an acquaintance from acting school, saw the cover and vowed to marry her.

They tied the knot that year and had two sons, Michael and Joel, before divorcing in 1951.

They remained on amicable terms and appeared together in several later films, including her last movie, 2003’s “It Runs in the Family.”

Associated Press