Four-Peat: Wyoming’s Double Dub’s Wins Top Award At Buffalo Wing Fest — Again

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Trent Weitzel and his crew from Weitzel’s Wings — aka Double Dub’s — in Laramie have pulled off an unprecedented feat Sunday: winning Festival Favorite for the fourth straight year at the National Buffalo Wing Festival.

The growing Wyoming food truck franchise once again swept the competition in the wing capital of the world, marking the first four-peat of the top prize in more than two decades of this festival.

Double Dub’s also won plenty of other bling, and will bring home trophies for three of its sauces this year — KSS Big Mac, Sofrito Loco and BBQ.

It was an emotional win for Weitzel, who said he was nervous ahead of the final announcement because he’s very competitive.

He opened his first wing food truck in 2013 after experimenting with sauce recipes with his childhood friend, Dallas Lopez, who now runs the company’s Rock Springs food truck.

“It’s a big accomplishment for me,” Weitzel said. “It’s not about me, it’s about the crew — it’s all them, they did everything.”

“Winning it is huge,” added Lopez. “It means your booth was attended more than anyone else.”

That popularity can create some challenges.

Double Dub’s ran out of chicken wings several times throughout the two-day festival. Its supply of KSS Big Mac sauce also was completely depleted with nearly three hours left in Sunday’s festivities.

Invented by Weitzel’s daughter, the Big Mac sauce won second place for Best Craft Wing, while BBQ won first place.

Now, the Wyoming wing king has amassed 22 trophies from the festival over the course of a six-year run.

Weitzel said he will reassess whether Double Dub’s returns to compete next year — or passes the torch to the next Festival Favorite. 

“I may come back in a different capacity next year,” Weitzel said, adding that such options might include being a festival sponsor or judge.

The Road To Buffalo

Double Dub’s domination at the wing festival wouldn’t be possible if not for a Hail Mary from Josh Allen, the Buffalo Bills quarterback and reigning NFL MVP.

The first year that Weitzel applied for inclusion in the festival, he boasted that Double Dub’s would take home the Rookie of the Year award to Drew Creza, the guy who came up with this crazy festival back in the early 2000s.

But as has become Buffalo wing mythology, Creza turned down Weitzel more than once — each time asking whether Double Dub’s had a brick-and-mortar location, a stipulation for entry.

That didn’t stop Weitzel from trying.

He recalled dialing Creza on a whim while out running his horse in 2019 and Creza immediately knew who was calling because Weitzel is the only person he knows with a 307 area code.

After more back-and-forth about the food truck hurdle, Weitzel finally did something he has sought to do very, very rarely: He name-dropped Josh Allen, by then the quarterback for the Buffalo Bills whose favorite food while a student at the University of Wyoming was the Spicy Bleu wings from Double Dub’s.

Now the Spicy Bleu is on the menu as the No. 17, the number Allen wore at UW and wears for the Bills.

Creza told Weitzel that if he could get Allen to vouch for the food truck in some way, he’d reconsider. 

“So, I called Josh and said, ‘I really need a favor,’” Weitzel recalled.

One 30-minute call from the NFL superstar later, and Creza had changed his tune, and the rest is now history.

“Kudos to Trent for building that relationship,” the festival founder said.

While Allen may have gotten Double Dub’s to the festival, Weitzel and his attention to detail and creativity have earned a national reputation as one of the elite Buffalo wing cooks in the U.S.

100 Wings For Wonder Woman

Weitzel has likewise built relationships with people all over the country thanks to the festival.

When Weitzel spotted Bills Wonder Woman, aka Buffalonian Nicole Martin, he asked if the Buffalo Bills Super Fan would be getting the usual: a tray of 100 wings that Martin and her husband, Matt, take home from the Double Dub’s truck each year.

“Double Dub’s is our favorite,” she said, adding that the couple opted for 50 Spicy Bleu, 25 KSS Big Mac, and 25 of a dry rub.

The locally hired security guards working the event also are excited to see the Double Dub’s military green truck pull in, while some people make a trek to Buffalo just for a once-a-year taste at this wing-a-palooza.

It’s Kevin Potter’s eighth trip to the festival from New Jersey, and this year he’s with a friend group that’s about 10 deep.

The mere mention of Double Dub’s causes Potter’s face to light up — it’s his favorite because of the sauces (especially the KSS Big Mac) and Weitzel’s obvious passion for his craft.

“I know so much about the owner [Weitzel] and he doesn’t know my name,” Potter said.

But thanks to the assistance of an intrepid reporter, Potter is a stranger no more to Weitzel and was able to tell the wingmaker face-to-face how much he loves Double Dub’s — and plead for him to come back for another year.

Even if Double Dub’s doesn’t return to compete next year, Potter will be back.

“This is my favorite holiday,” he said. “I’ll come here for the rest of my life.”

An Allen Assist

Weitzel’s life has also changed with the fame that comes with being a beloved wingmaker. People stop and ask for a photo or to shake his hand.

In total, he will spend about 10 days in Buffalo this year, and they are grueling days.

In addition to all the prep that goes into coming here, there’s the actual journey — a 1,500-mile road trip each way in a converted school bus.

Weitzel strategically parked the bus right outside the entrance to the festival, which is a psychological ploy of sorts, Lopez said. 

Strategically located just inside the entrance to Sahlen Field, Double Dub’s was often the first wing spot many people came upon when entering this year’s festival, offering a much-needed way to satiate their long overdue taste of a Double Dub’s signature wing.

The crew might hand out 800 wings in a matter of minutes, and because he was serving most of Saturday, Lopez offered another indicator of how busy their booth was.

When he returned to his Airbnb on Saturday night, his phone still had a 92% charge. 

Still, Weitzel feels very grateful to be back and for all of the success the Double Dub’s crew has enjoyed over its six-year run. And he’s quick to praise a certain NFL superstar for helping make much of this possible.

“If Josh Allen went anywhere else (for college), we wouldn’t be here,” Weitzel said.

Added Lopez: “Josh brought us to the door, but we kicked it in.”

Anna-Louise Jackson can be reached at: jackson.anna@gmail.com