Cookoff Makes No Beans About Loving Hot Chili

Rainstorms swept the 23rd annual World Championship Chili Cookoff at a desert gold mine Sunday, but could only partially douse the hootin’, hollerin’ and carryin’ on of thousands of “chili heads,” much less cool their fiery concoctions.

Country-Western singer Johnny Lee and his band bravely belted out songs and 82 chili chefs tended to their pots under canvas canopies as the heavy showers sent many of the estimated 20,000 chili lovers from across the United States and several foreign countries running for shelter in cars and motor homes.

The rain, the first to hit the normally parched Antelope Valley in months, forced many people to flee even before a panel of more than 100 judges selected the world champion chili chef after a daylong series of concerts and contests.

It was the first rain in the history of the event, held at the Tropico Gold Mine in a remote part of Kern County.

The day’s big winner, taking the $25,000 first prize donated by the Beatrice/Hunt-Wesson food company, was Phil M. Walter of Seattle, a 38-year-old certified public accountant. He said he’s been competing in chili cookoffs for about eight years under the nickname “Tarantula Jack.”

“I was fortunate today. There’s such an element of luck in our hobby,” said Walter, who represented the state of Montana and plans to donate part of his winnings to a hospital there. “Everybody wants to know what’s the secret of my chili, and I tell them firm, young tarantulas,” he said.

Actually, Walter, a past champion in several state contests, attributed his success to keeping his chili simple. “Chili is a very simple recipe,” he said. “All I try to do is get a very flavorful beefy, spicy chili. You do that by keeping it simple.”

The World Championship Chili Cookoff started as a small but boisterous event near the ghost town of Terlingua, Tex., in 1967. But the annual contest, sponsored by the Newport Beach-based International Chili Society, grew in popularity and size over the years, eventually settling in its current home near the small desert town of Rosamond, near Edwards Air Force Base, about five years ago.

Some of those attending the cookoff hoped to make it a weekend excursion by trying to catch the scheduled landing of the space shuttle Atlantis today at Edwards, about 20 miles to the east. One of those was Larry Barnett, NASA’s chief of shuttle operations, who watched over the cookoff’s front gate.

The day started out with spectators walking from booth to booth, eyeing chili cooks and smelling their pungent pots, or touring booths selling bowls of chili, T-shirts and jewelry. Pepto-Bismol had a booth--pink, naturally--as “the official stomach remedy” of the event, with free samples.

The first sign of trouble came when the Condor Squadron, a group of pilots based at Van Nuys Airport who fly World War II-era planes, were grounded by the weather. Their mission was to fly over on a mock bombing mission while event organizers exploded an outhouse, a cookoff tradition. The planes never appeared, so organizers blew up the outhouse without them after a three-hour delay.

By mid-afternoon, rain was falling heavily, chilling the 10 contestants in the Miss Chili Pepper contest. Michelle Plaisance, 18, of Palmdale, won for the second consecutive year. As she stood on stage in a tiny, orange bikini, the emcee asked: “You’re not chilly, are you?”

A soggy Plaisance replied, gritting her teeth, “I’m freezing.”

All the finalists except for the defending champion--Kenton Stafford of Fillmore--qualified by winning state or regional contests during the past year, said Jim West, executive director of the chili society. West said about 380 local cookoffs raised more than $2 million for different charities this year.

Under cookoff rules, the cooks could use any kind of meat, but most chose beef. Unlike store-bought chili, there was not a bean to be found, because contest rules prohibit them. Chili purists disdain beans. The cooks also were required to use fresh ingredients, although canned tomatoes and broth were allowed.

Apart from the rain, there were no major problems. The Kern County Sheriff’s Department, which had more than 20 deputies present, reported no arrests or injuries by late afternoon, although departing participants were caught in a major traffic snarl because crowds filled the rural area’s two-lane roads.

Despite the rain, most of those interviewed said they’d return next year. “It was great. I wouldn’t miss it if I had to crawl up here,” said Andy Schubert, a 70-year-old Burbank resident who came with his 69-year-old wife, Fran, as part of a caravan of about 20 motor homes.

The cookoff is the pet charity project of an unusual group of prominent business executives, including sports car racer and builder Carroll Shelby; C.V. Wood Jr., assistant chairman of the board of Lorimar Telepictures; W.D. Ray, owner of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach; Thomas Deemer, president of the club; and Robert Petersen, owner of Petersen Publishing.