John Mellencamp’s hit “Jack and Diane” talks about growing up in smalltown Indiana, where warm summer evenings are spent hanging out with friends at the local ice cream stand. The line “suckin' on chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze” may bring back fond childhood memories for many Hoosiers, but it actually describes Natasha Branham’s daily life. That’s because she’s a cook at the Tastee Freeze in the very small town of Montezuma. Although it’s only about 65 miles west of Indianapolis, Montezuma has all the hallmarks of smalltown Indiana Mellencamp sang about.  

When Natasha isn’t cooking up chili dogs and pork tenderloins—the best in Indiana, she says!—she likes to play Hoosier Lottery Scratch-offs. “Even if it’s just a $1 ticket, it’s so much fun to scratch the ticket and see that potential prize,” she said.

While in the car with her husband one day, Natasha scratched a $50 Cash Extravaganza. When it revealed a $25,000 prize, she was shocked. “You need to pull over right now,” she told her husband. “You’ve got to look at this. I’m not believing what I’m seeing.”

As her husband examined the ticket, he thought she won $500 and was excited. Suddenly, though, he looked at Natasha in shock. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing??” he asked. They stared at each other for a minute as the reality of Natasha’s win sunk in. They were overjoyed.

While the prize money would certainly buy many chili dogs at the Tastee Freeze, the couple says they plan to use it for a few household repairs and upgrades.

$50 Cash Extravaganza Estimated Overall Odds 1 in 3.20