We recently had a great writeup in the Revel@Conway magazine about our Wimpy’s Challenge! You can find the article in it’s entirety here along with some photos…
By Todd E. Jones
On a hot steamy August evening, you would think that four very reasonable guys would have something better to do than to try to eat a four pound burger with fries and a shake. Nevertheless, that is what happened on such a night at Wimpy’s Burgers and Fries in Conway.
The brainchild of the Wimpy’s staff, the challenge is to eat four pounds of hamburger, including the bun along with a pound of fries and a large milkshake. The bun alone measures a whopping 10 inches according the restaurant’s website. If the contestant eats the entire meal, the meal is free.
Thus entered the contestants. Patrick Ellis, a contractor and student at UAMS, Kurtis Lawson, partner at Adventure Auction Company, Andy Morris, salesman at Lumber 1 in Mayflower and Charles Browder, Head Teller at Metropolitan National Bank all stepped up to the plate. All four faced the challenge and all four derived inspiration for the task.
Ellis heard about the challenge through his sister Katy who is an employee at Wimpy’s. He was first in the challenge. Ellis is a 2003 graduate of Conway High School and recently enrolled at UAMS to learn Surgical Technology. In addition, Ellis is singer and guitarist for the band Josellis Wilham, a local blues/rock band from Conway. The band is known for doing covers for artists such as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Hendrix and Neil Young. They are scheduled to perform at Gusano’s on September 9, 2011.
Ellis’ family showed up to support him, but in the end, he was unable to overcome the enormous amount of food within the allotted one hour.
Lawson showed up after having the challenge issued by friend Aaron Reddin who is Executive Director of The One. Lawson has been friends with Reddin for five years and goes out on the streets with him to minister their homeless friends in the Little Rock area. Lawson is a native of Muskogee, OK before moving to Northwest Arkansas and eventually settling down in Little Rock.
Lawson brought Reddin and his wife to serve as inspiration, but at about the 30 minute mark, he threw his hands up and said, “this is just too much food.”
Morris and Browder did not fair much better. Both men brought friends from New Life Church where they work with students to cheer them on.
Morris is ready for the challenge
Morris, a former baseball player for Central Baptist College, had friends from Elevation, a college ministry at New Life Church to be his pit crew. He claimed experience as he once downed a 36 ounce steak, the sides, fruit, salad and a dessert for good measure at the Sante Fe Cattle Company. Morris brought along friends Matt Leonard, Austin Paxon, Trevor Sellers, J.P. Dickey, Julie Daivs, Annah Moran, Mindy Rowse and Alllison Hawkins.
Like Morris, Browder works with students at New Life Church, but he works with the youth group known as Real Life. A digital filmmaker, he works with the media helping to produce the worship service for the students. Browder relied on several of the same friends as Morris, and the two could be heard wishing the other success.
The results this night are burger 4, contestants 0. Wimpy’s will have the challenge again next Tuesday night. In addition to the challenge, students who show valid ID’s get 40% off of their meal.
Not a student? Show them that you checked in on Gowalla with your smart phone and get 10% off. This is good Monday through Wednesday.
