Joey Chestnut and Sonya Thomas, 2012 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest Winners

We’re living in the Joey Chestnut era.

Chestnut has won his sixth Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest crown, in a row.

You may not know that this grand old 4th of July tradition has been going on long before the event’s two most popular and dominant contestants, Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi, took it to its greatest renown.

Kobayashi put the event on the map in the early 2000′s. Now it is an annual nationally-followed televised holiday sporting contest. Kobayashi has six titles too – all in a row, but now competes in a rival hot dog event.

Those two eaters have won the most, but there are many more winners you surely haven’t heard of from back in the 1970′s and 1980′s, years for which I can find records. Some of these guys won more than once, too. And looking at the list, you can see these multiple winners, for the most part, won back-to-back. Apparently one dominates the sport for a period and then it’s over, someone else takes over.

We’ll see if Joey Chestnut has what it takes to win his seventh title next year. Or will an upstart dethrone “Jaws?”

Here’s a list of those eaters with the most wins, including all the single winners, too.

The first contest was back in 1916 and it has run, informally and formally, since then (97 years).

Sonya Thomas, “The Black Widow,” has won the two women’s contests (2011, 2012), a new official tradition that began last year.

Follow me on Twitter @VinGetz.

Photo: whtc.com / nydailynews.com