Reasons for Local Pride: Ketchup Slurping and Cow Pie Slinging

The 2006 Guinness World Records book is out, and it’s heartening to see how many local accomplishments have stood the test of time.

They fall into such distinguished categories as (please hold your applause until the end):

* Fastest consumption of a ketchup bottle: In a major blow to the mustard industry, Dustin Phillips “consumed 91% of a 14-ounce bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup through a straw in 33 seconds” in L.A. in 1999.

* Most rattlesnakes shared a tub with: Jack Bibby and Rosie Reynolds-McCasland sat in separate tubs, each of which contained 75 live Western diamondbacks, in L.A. and lived to tell about it (1999).

* Longest toss of a cow pie (“not molded into a spherical shape”): Steve Urner got off a toss of 226 feet at the Mountain Festival in Tehachapi (1981), and, hopefully, brought out a pooper-scooper afterward.

And one of the most enduring records:

* Longest backward walk: Between April 15, 1931, and Oct. 24, 1932, Plennie Wingo hiked 8,000 miles from Santa Monica to Istanbul with his back to oncoming traffic.

Guinness called Wingo the “greatest-ever exponent of reverse pedestrianism.”

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Speaking of great walkers: A 21-year-old man, found passed out in some bushes in the Isla Vista area of Santa Barbara, told officers that he intended to walk home -- to San Luis Obispo -- reported the Daily Nexus, UC Santa Barbara’s student newspaper.

That would have been a trek of about 100 miles.

Before he could attempt that feat, he was arrested for public intoxication.

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You can call it L.A.: Driving (not walking) on an Arizona highway, Jim Paden noticed a slur on the name of Los Angeles (see photo).

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Food for thought: I’ve heard of restaurants having all sorts of problems but never the one that David Stern of West L.A. chanced upon at a Marina del Rey establishment (see photo).

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Chew on this one: Anna Combs of Huntington Beach bought some fruit that seemed to be in perfect condition, despite what the packaging said (see accompanying).

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Thanks for the warning: Sonia Appell of Laguna Woods wasn’t surprised that an advertised “inversion table” was never used. Who wants to re-experience stress? she pointed out (see accompanying). *

miscelLAny: In the local honors department, the I-5 -- northbound from Van Nuys to Castaic and southbound from L.A. through Orange County -- made the list of “the top 10 worst holiday traffic tie-ups in America” released by Metro Networks, a traffic reporting firm. You know Plennie Wingo wouldn’t attempt to drive it.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083; by fax at (213) 237-4712; by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012; and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.