Consider the hot dog, a sandwich (yes, a sandwich!) of immense cultural import. More than just a popular snack, the hot dog serves as a culinary blank canvas to the myriad of ingredients people love to add.
There was a time when chili, coleslaw, onions and mustard were the condiments of choice for Martinsville residents, but, in recent years, the Martinsville hot dog has dwindled in availability though not in the hearts of longtime residents.
“Even at the time in the ’50s and ’60s, the dog was cheap, perhaps akin to the famous Cos[t]co chicken that maintains an unreal price,” former Martinsville resident Victoria Esarey, 77, wrote in an email.
At that time, hot dogs were typically less than a dollar.
“‘All the way’ meant onions (not for me), and I ate them at Ayers, next to the roller rink,” Esarey said. “I don’t remember eating in, only carry out after the order was brought to the car. Additionally, the fries were wonderful and were real potatoes, before we even knew they could be made otherwise.”
NASCAR and several other sources claim it was invented by cooks at the Martinsville Speedway a little over 50 years ago as a unique menu item. Even as restaurants throughout the city incorporated the Martinsville hot dog in their own menus, the speedway provided most people with their first experience with the hot dog.
“Some of my earliest memories was eating [the Martinsville hot dog] at the races,” said W.C. Fowlkes, 74, a lifelong Martinsville resident.
Martinsville’s racetrack was established in the late 1940s and quickly became a track used by NASCAR. During those early years, track officials used the Martinsville hot dog as a way to attract visitors.
It was largely a success, according to Fowlkes, who said that, for many, getting a hot dog was often as exciting as the race itself.
“As the popularity of the hot dog spread, its notoriety with NASCAR also spread, at least through the Southeast,” Fowlkes said. “There’s just nothing like it, the flavor, I don’t know what they do with it. For most of the people at the races, the hot dog is the most popular thing there, and it has been for a long, long time.”
Martinsville Speedway officials didn’t respond to multiple attempts to reach them for this story.
Searching for the famed dog
To this day, the speedway remains one of the few places that sells the hot dog. Most restaurants that once sold it, like Mays Sandwich Shop, no longer exist.
“It really is sad to see,” Fowlkes said, adding that the hot dog’s popularity once bled into the surrounding area.
Local resident Gene Gregory echoed this.
“I believe that the Heart Line Diner and the Dairy Hart diner of Danville would have had hot dogs like the Martinsville Raceway that you describe,” Gregory said.
While the Heart Line is no longer open, Dairy Hart is still operating in Danville.
“The closest I have found in recent years are the hot dogs of the Texas Inn in Lynchburg,” Gregory said. “If you ordered one there with your prescribed toppings, I believe it would come close to the Martinsville dogs.”
Expanding the search to include bodegas and convenience stores yielded similar results. While an array of food can be found at Martinsville’s corner stores, the city’s signature hot dog was absent.
Fowlkes suggested that restaurants with a patron base that skewed older might yield encouraging results. He suggested an unassuming spot called D and A Diner. As one of the city’s more longstanding establishments, the diner has kept up the tradition of selling the Martinsville hot dog, at the fair price of $2.
The restaurant is a family affair, helmed by father-and-son duo Marvin and Leslie Allen and named after Draper Allen, Marvin’s uncle.
A lifelong Martinsville resident, Marvin Allen opened D and A’s doors 48 years ago on South Memorial Boulevard. Since then, it has remained D and A’s sole location, with a menu that skews toward the breakfast crowd. Despite the emphasis on breakfast, the Martinsville hot dog is a popular menu item, with around 500 weekly orders.
Leslie Allen goes about filling these orders in the diner’s cramped kitchen. He put together the Martinsville hot dog with the flair of a showman, showcasing the kind of extreme efficiency born from rote experience. He said his father was once better at making hot dogs in large quantities.
Marvin Allen said the hot dog has been consistently popular among his patrons. He speculates this is because his diner is one of the only places offering it.
“As far as that goes, I guess I’m one of the last,” Allen said.
He believes that changing tastes and the rise of fast-food restaurants were the determining factors.
“The children got away from it because they are growing up,” Allen said, adding that kids prefer fast-food places, many of which prioritize the hamburger over the hot dog. “Tastes have changed from what they were.”
Allen said that although he acknowledges the changes, he wants to continue offering a slice of nostalgia to anyone who walks through his doors. In its 48-year history, the menu has undergone few changes, which Allen said is an intentional decision.
He said the Martinsville hot dog is a perfect example of why keeping up old culinary traditions is important. Comparing it to other regional dishes, Allen said the hot dog truly stands out.
“If you go south of us, you’re not going to get a hot dog with coleslaw and chili on it,” Allen said. “You’ll get a bun, some mustard, some relish. If you go north of us, you aren’t going to get it either. It’s just different.”