Fans rejoice at the return of real Martinsville hot dogs

Sometimes change really isn’t for the better, and fans are now pretty pumped about a NASCAR culinary tradition that has been restored.

The best hot dog around is somewhat a matter of personal preference. Cities like New York and Chicago have certainly staked their claims, and in the sports world, any number of stadiums have produced memorable takes of their own. When it comes to NASCAR, though, none stand quite as tall as the Martinsville Speedway hot dog with its unique mix of mustard, chili, onions and slaw on a steamed bun.

The thing is, there’s one more very important ingredient in the mix, and that’s the hot dog itself. For years, it was a Jesse Jones Southern Style Red Hot Dog, and then all of a sudden, a few seasons back, it wasn’t. The hot dog of choice for the last few years was made by Smithfield, and while that company knows a bit about quality meat products, it just wasn’t quite the same.

(As an aside, Smithfield is a pretty big sponsor of NASCAR in general, so read what you will into why it might have gotten the nod.)

But as the FTW blog at USA Today explains, a wrong has been righted, and Jesse Jones is back on the ingredient list for Martinsville hot dogs.

https://twitter.com/MartinsvilleSwy/status/968482115305328640

We won’t duplicate FTW’s fantastic work rounding up Twitter (and even Reddit) reactions to the news, but suffice it to say, everyone is pretty excited about the return to the original recipe.

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Even better, the Famous Martinsville Speedway Hot Dog still costs only $2, which is an absolute bargain in the world of stadium concessions if there ever was one. If you still haven’t tried one for yourself, the first chance to see what all the fuss is about is only a few weeks away, as the STP 500 rolls into Martinsville Speedway on March 25.