Cold weather and fatigue from lack of sleep for more than 40 hours have combined to break the wills of every “kiss-the-car” contestant except three Iowa State students as of early Tuesday evening.

“She wants a car so bad,” says Lindsey Tomich, marketing major, about her friend Heather Berg, a sophomore psychology major. “We’re here to keep her awake.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Berg’s lips are pressed lightly against the tip of the side view mirror. Her eyes are glazed, the area underneath is puffy and red. She is wearing a shirt, sweatshirt and jacket although everyone around her is dressed in blue jeans and short sleeve shirts.

“We’ve had Playgirl (in front of her) just to keep her awake,” said 19-year-old student Kim Deeb.

Most people standing around make room for Berg to run toward the portable toilets as her break approaches, but she does not run that way. Instead, she uses her two minute rest to relax.

Some of her Alpha Delta Pi sorority sisters begin to laugh as the voice coming from the speakers says that Berg can use her time to eat or not use the bathroom.

“She’s wearing Depends,” say Sonee Griffin and Mara Howland in unison. Before Berg stretches her body, the two minutes are over and she has to resume her kissing position.

The three contestants are left from the original 29 who began their kissing marathon on 5:45 p.m. Sunday. The contest for the Chevy S-10 truck, worth about $13,000, is sponsored by Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, in an attempt to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club of Iowa. The fraternity is still collecting donations.

Matt Schwenn is waiting for the contest to end because he has a final in a political science class Wednesday. Schwenn is one of the three participants left. His wife, Betsy, is nervous about the test. She shuffles through his notes.

“I want to get a confirmed answer that he can take the test on Friday,” says Betsy Schwenn. She says her husband thought about dropping out of the competition because of the test and a paper that is due Friday.

The two have been married for about nine months. “I’ve been here as best I can,” she says.

“Okay, Matt Schwenn only has ten seconds until his break,” says a voice from the speakers.

Schwenn’s supporters make a path inside the tent of people for a passage to use the bathroom. Schwenn immediately jumps up from his seated position and jogs toward the portable toilets.

He grabs a sandwich from a friend like a baton and runs into the portable toilet chomping on his food. Lettuce floats to the ground behind him as he closes the door.

When he opens the door seconds later, the sandwich has ragged edges as meat, bread, lettuce and tomatoes are peeping out from the grip of his clenched hands.

He has about 10 seconds before he must begin kissing again. His name is taped on the hood of the truck above where he is seated.

“This truck is mine” is printed on a sheet of paper beside the head of the third finalist, Chris Sandmeier. His lips are set on the open gas tank cover. People are talking about how he refused to take one of his rare breaks. Sandmeier watches television.

Participants are allowed to take ten minute breaks every six hours and two minute breaks every hour. However, the two minute breaks are fewer as the contest continues. As of 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, the two minute breaks were allowed every four hours.

As the contest grows more intense, no one notices the remnants of the weary.

Empty bottles of juice and mouthwash are scattered about the bed of the truck. Visine and chapstick have been discarded to the back along with a container of Carmex.

Fingerprints cover the body of the truck. Near the rear passenger tire, a lipstick kiss is all that is left of another contestant.

The forest green Chevy S-10 truck that the three contestants are kissing for has remnants of other now forgotten warriors. Underneath, where one contestant was lying on his back the night before, are thick crumpled socks.

The defeated

At about 2 a.m. on Tuesday, eight contestants were still vying for the truck. John Miller, a senior in industrial technology, had three pillows rolled and bound with gray tape. The ends of the pillows had a red tint to them because Miller had been playing with clay underneath the truck and had grasped the sides of the pillow from time to time.

Miller was covered with several blankets. There would not be a break for about another hour. He raised his fist with his thumb in the air after his friends asked him if he was alright.

Jim Sundermeyer, a senior in electrical engineering said, “Miller will be here for about three days.” Miller immediately waved his hand for a pad and pen. He wrote: “Till we win.”

Yet, by Tuesday afternoon, two thick socks are all that is left of Miller’s attempt for the truck. Grass is torn away from the earth and has sprinkled over the empty bottles of Coke and Pepsi. The socks sit there, one by the front tire and the other by the rear tire.

Heather Hanlon, the young woman who pledged $1250 for a chance at the truck, is no longer in the contest.

“She was just sitting there with her face away from the truck and when we pulled her away she thought it was her break,” says President of Sigma Phi Epsilon, Jason Springer.

He says Hanlon did not know what was going on until she was told she had been disqualified. She was out of the contest around midnight Monday.

“She just started crying. It was sad,” Springer says.

Ron Chieves, youth development specialist for Boys and Girls Club in Ames, says Hanlon did not have a large group of supporters.

“Her eyes were really watering,” Chieves says. “I asked her if she needed anything, I would get it for her.”

Onlookers’ reaction

“It’s crazy, I can’t believe it,” said Geff Gescheidler, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club in Ames. “Most of the people are dropping out late at night or early in the morning,” he said.

Someone walks by the tent to look at the contestants. “Eye of the Tiger” is blared over the speakers. A yell from the crowd of supporters shows their approval of the choice of music.

The onlooker’s eyes gaze toward the ground as he shakes his head and walks to his destination.

Berg, Schwenn and Sandmeier begin to pump their fists in the air to the beat of the music and continue vying for the truck, sealed with a kiss.