Hot dogs and the 4th of July go together like -- well -- like hot dogs and America itself.

In the words of the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council: “While the hot dog is a popular entree across the country, consumption does vary by region. According to sales data for 2008, New York City spent more money on hot dogs in retail stores ($107 million) than any other market in the country.
Residents of Los Angeles came in second, with $91 million spent on hot dogs, and -- with an impressive third-place ranking -- the combined Baltimore-Washington area spent over $51 million on hot dogs, despite a substantially smaller population than New York and L.A.”

Last year marked the golden anniversary of National Hot Dog Month, which was made official by the US Chamber of Commerce in 1957. The countdown to National Hot Dog Day, which falls on July 21, starts now.

Perhaps the most famous hot dogs in the world are manufactured by Oscar Mayer, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kraft (KFT), with sales topping $2 billion in 2008.

Perhaps the single most recognizable symbol of the Oscar Mayer hot dog is the Wienermobile, which was invented in 1936 by Oscar’s nephew, Carl.

Last year, one of the company’s 6 Wienermobiles was traveling through downtown Tucson, when Officer Korey Lankow of the Arizona Department of Public Safety ran its “Y-U-M-M-Y” license plate to make sure it was street legal.

The plate came back as stolen. Lankow called for backup.

The plate had in fact been stolen in Columbia, MO this past February, but Oscar Mayer officials were issued a replacement. Unfortunately, a computer error caused the plate to continue to show up as stolen, said Officer Carmen Figueroa, a Department of Public Safety spokeswoman.

Driver Jeff Kendell, of Salt Lake City, was released. No charges were filed.