On the Fourth of July, America's hope for recapturing the championship for hot dog eating from Takeru Kobayashi of Japan will take place at the annual Coney Island hot dog eating competition.

According to press reports, California native Joey Chestnut aims to inhale more than four dozen hot dogs in 12 minutes at the competition.

To prepare himself for the competition, Chestnut practices twice a week by downing 40 or more hot dogs in a single sitting.

Chestnut says, "If I'm not eating hot dogs, I'm not eating much. Everything is going pretty good."

Kobayashi is undefeated in eating competitions on American soil, but the prospect of Chestnut ending that streak has piqued interest in this year's event.

Rich Shea, one of the founders of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, said, "people believe Joey can win this contest. How much can a human being eat? What is the capacity? I think we'll find out."

Kobayashi has won the competition every year since 2001 and still holds the event's record after downing 53.5 hot dogs back in 2004.

However, Chestnut has some accomplishments of his own as well. He has finished 32 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes, 5 1/2 pounds of pork ribs in 12 minutes and 173 chicken wings in 30 minutes. All of those are still world records.