‘A lotta bull’: 72-oz steak challenge draws crowd to Route 66 metro-east stop
Granite City became the 17th stop on a Route 66 cross-country caravan Monday. To celebrate, the city was filled with classic hot rods, classic rock and a massive classic eating challenge.
The event took place at Neon Sign Park in Granite City, where classic cars and Texans in 10-gallon hats were found in abundance.
The caravan, which features participants from all over the nation, is co-run by GoRoute66.com, the Route 66 Association and the Centennial Route 66 Caravan. The tour started in Santa Monica, California, on June 4 and will work its way down the length of Route 66, concluding with a stop in Chicago on June 25.
The highlight of the event was a 72-ounce steak challenge hosted by the Big Texan Steak Ranch, a ranch and restaurant in Amarillo, Texas, that boasts one of the oldest eating challenges in the country.
Brent McClure, the general manager for GoRoute66.com, said his organization often works with the Big Texan Steak Ranch for Route 66-themed events.
“They’re kind of the ones who roped me into this,” McClure joked.
McClure said the ranch hosts multiple eating challenges every day, and that one in 10 men finishes the challenge, while half of women finish.
“When women start, they go,” McClure said. “They know what they’re in for.”
Bobby Lee, the current owner of the Big Texan Steak Ranch and son of its founder, said the challenge originated in 1960, when his father challenged all the cowboys to eat as much steak as possible. When one of them ate four and a half 1-pound steaks, a tossed salad, baked potato, roll and shrimp cocktail, his father declared that anyone who ate the steak dinner would eat it for free.
“Sixty-six years later, it’s still going strong,” Lee said. “That’s a lotta bull.”
Contestants in the challenge included three on-air personalities from KMOV-4, a public works employee with the city of Granite City, three local residents and a hometown hero of competitive eating. The challenge kicked off at 5:30 p.m. Granite City cheerleaders surrounded the table, waving pom-poms and offering words of encouragement to participants and the crowd alike.
Rodney Cox, a public works employee for the city of Granite City, said he was asked to take on the challenge. Cox said he has tried only one eating challenge, a “really big hamburger,” and he wasn’t sure he could finish the steak.
“I think once if I finish the steak, it’ll be the potato that turns out to be a problem,” he said.
He didn’t make it through the steak.
The champion of the event, Wood River's Kyle “The Hammer” Hanner, has been competitive eating since the age of 13. Hanner said he first discovered his talent for eating through his background as a wrestler.
“You gotta starve yourself and then you binge a lot in the off season,” Hanner said. “You gotta starve yourself and then you binge a lot in the off season.”
Hanner showed up to the event like a professional wrestler to a title fight. The night before, he went to an all-you-can-eat buffet to “stretch his stomach” and showed up to the event hoisting belts he earned at other eating competitions.
Hanner finished the massive 4-pound steak, a baked potato, a side salad and a shrimp cocktail in 42 minutes and 8 seconds.
“Surprisingly, I feel a lot better than I thought I would,” Hanner said at the end of the event, “I’m happy I completed it because this is one of those legendary challenges. I took the preparation pretty seriously.”
