Courtesy of the Krystal Square Off Blog

On Sept. 28, the city of Chattanooga, Tenn. will play host to the biggest Major League Eating event of the year as Joey Chestnut, Takeru Kobayashi and all of the world’s best battle it out for the top burger belt at the Krystal Square Off V World Hamburger Eating Championship. And thanks to the Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, one lucky family will get to experience this must-see event like a VIP plus enjoy a fun-filled weekend in Tennessee’s Scenic City.

Beginning today, competitive eating fans hungry for the ultimate Chattanooga Family Vacation and Krystal Square Off V Getaway can register for a chance to win by visiting www.chattanooga.com/krystal. The package includes:

• Two night luxury accommodations at the fabulous Sheraton Read House;
• One Chattanooga area attraction VIP Pass good for four people at over 40 attractions, including the Tennessee Aquarium, the IMAX 3D Theater, Ruby Falls and Rock City Gardens;
• Krystal Square Off VIP Access that includes your very own luxury suite “sky box” at the live televised championship, complete with catered food and beverages and the best view of the contest.

Drawing will take place on September 22.

The Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship is one of the majors in the sport of competitive eating and the only world hamburger-eating championship sanctioned by Major League Eating, the world governing body of all stomach-centric sports. FSN South, the nation’s largest regional sports network, will televise the finals of Krystal Square Off V live from Chattanooga, Tenn. during a one-hour program.

Humble Bob Shoudt took the Krystal Square Off Chattanooga Qualifier on Saturday, downing 58 Krystal burgers in eight minutes.

Although Shoudt was disappointed with his performance, he did earn the first seat to this year’s World Hamburger Eating Championship, which will take place back in Chattanooga on September 28.

Head over to the Krystal Square Off Blog for complete coverage of this past weekend’s hamburger happenings, including photos on our Flickr page and a video blog of Humble Bob after the contest.

Remember, you can also sign up to receive Live Twitter coverage of each event at Twitter.com/ksquareoff.

Next stop on the hamburger competitive eating tour: Jacksonville.

Not to be outdone by the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Krystal Square Off V World Hamburger Eating Championship will host an Opening Ceremony today in downtown Chattanooga. The ceremony will start up at 1:00 pm EST with the official lighting of the Krystal Square Off Grill to signify the beginning of this year’s Krystal Square Off Qualifying Tour.

After the lighting, Chattanoogans are invited to join the first ever “Running of the Grill” down Chestnut Street, complete with a police escort, parade of vehicles with local dignitaries, the Krystal cycling team on bikes and a host of Krystal employees.

The procession will end down at the Riverfront, where Krystal’s VP of Marketing Brad Wahl and George Shea from Major League Eating will host a press conference to set the stage for this year’s competitive eating contest, and immediately afterwards, Chattanooga’s most popular news personalities will compete in a 2-minute Krystal burger eating contest.

Head over to our sister site, the Krystal Square Off Blog, to find out which media personalities are competing and for more details. They’ll also have updates throughout the day, including photos, video and more.

Beginning mid-June, Krystal lovers in Chattanooga will be handed a little something extra when they order a bottle of water with their Krystal meals.

That’s right, you lucky folks will receive a packet of Crystal Light On The Go to mix in - making your water more flavorful and refreshing, just in time for summer (whew - it was all we could do to type Crystal with a “C” and not a “K”).

Flavors that will be available include: Peach Tea, Lemonade and Raspberry Ice.

You can learn a little more about Crystal Light here.

We’re big fans of Crystal Light, so our summer just got a whole lot better as we’re pretty excited about washing down our Krystal Chiks with Peach Tea, our favorite flavor. Yum.

Now for more about that Krystal Drive-In, Drive-Thru and Dine-In we promised to tell you about earlier in the week. You know, the one in Chattanooga that recently earned recognition for the cool menu boards that have individual TVs integrated into them. Yeah, that one.

The modern, new Krystal Drive-In design was the brainchild of Fred Exum Jr., the company’s President and CEO, and was created as a way to serve up the ultimate Krystal experience for customers while at the same time building upon the company’s history of hospitality.

As one of the pioneers of the original drive-In concept (Krystal operated a number of drive-in units throughout the South from 1952 through the early ’60s), the new Krystal Drive-In pays homage to the company’s heritage by featuring dedicated Carhop servers who personally take orders right at your vehicle rather than you having to say your order into a speaker.

In adding a modern new twist to the location, each of the 14 parking stalls feature a large, three-panel menu and digital media board (yes, the award winning one) positioned directly in front of the parking space, making it easy for everyone in the car to view. The 32-inch LCD screens also feature individual TVs (as we told you about earlier), and to hear the programming, you simply tune your car stereo to a specified frequency.

That’s not it. Like all Krystal locations, customers have access to free Wi-Fi and at this drive-in, your car in no exception.

So yes, you can watch TV, surf the web and chow down on your favorite Krystal food items without ever stepping foot out of your car.

And just when you think it couldn’t get any better, it does. The Krystal Drive-In features an expanded menu. So in addition to Krystal burgers, Chiks, Pups, Scramblers - you know, the favorites - Krystal has added items such as a full line of real fruit smoothies, icy cold floats, ice cream sundaes and Krystal-sized toasted sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night.

Along with the drive-in, this location features a 38-seat dining room (complete with a digital jukebox), and a traditional drive-thru.

So where exactly is this super, mega Krystal located so you can plan your next road trip? The address is 5401 Brainerd Road, Chattanooga. Here’s a map.

We recently learned that POPAI, the global association for at-market retail, has awarded Krystal with the Bronze Award for the innovative digital menu boards in use at the company’s drive-in concept restaurant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

We’ll tell you more about the cool, retro Krystal Drive-In later this week, as it’s possible more of these could pop up around the South, but in the photo at the right, you can see that this isn’t your ordinary menu board.

In addition to keeping with the ’50s tradition of drive-in eating (you know, where you relax and enjoy your food while sitting in your car), Krystal wanted to enhance the experience by adding in some modern day luxuries.

So, they added a TV to the menu boards. That’s right. You can pull up, order your favorite Krystal menu items, chill out and chow down while watching TV in your car. The TV broadcasts a live feed from the Chattanooga area, and audio is piped through a specific station on your car’s FM radio.

**Claps** No wonder they won the award.

Don’t forget to check in later this week, as we’ll tell you more about the cool features at the Krystal Drive-In. Here’s a hint: watching TV isn’t the only thing you can do in your car.