The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile
The full monty - RELSHME, the Wienermobile calling California home
When I explained to Hotdoggers Itzel “Schnitzel Itzel” Cruz and Kylie “Ketchup Kylie” Hodges that Trippy Food was born of the love of hitting the road less traveled with the search for unusual and interesting food, the response I got was, “What a coincidence – we do both!” The thought of hitting the road IN food never crossed my mind, but running into the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile recently rekindled a childhood desire to experience the mobile hot dog first hand. Contrary to popular belief, the Wienermobile is not a food truck – although the Hotdoggers (the official name given to the aerodynamic sausage’s pilots) hand out promotional materials, including coupons for Oscar Mayer products, they don’t distribute food. In fact, there’s nary a stove or even a microwave oven aboard the 27-foot vehicle. Since Hotdoggers represent the parent company (Kraft), one wonders how they manage meals – the vehicle would be somewhat conspicuous in a Hardee’s drive-through.
Itzel Cruz, one of the Hotdoggers piloting the Wienermobile
The Wienermobile has been an elusive road warrior since Oscar Mayer’s nephew Carl built the first one back in 1936. The original windowless 13-footer was a single-seater, with a hole in the top for navigational purposes; through the decades the Wienermobile has gone through several iterations including a version in 1940 that looked more like a hot rod than a hot dog. The vehicle has been built on several chassis including Dodge and Jeep; one on a Chevy RV body; and, even a 15-foot 2-seater built by Prototype Source on a Mini Cooper S chassis in 2008. The Wienermobile I encountered (RELSHME – “Relish Me”) is one of the longer (27-foot) 2009 models built on a Chevy Truck chassis. I asked co-pilot Itzel Cruz how difficult it was to maneuver a giant hot dog through city streets; she stated that the Wienermobile has a better turning radius than some smaller trucks.
The spacious interior of the Wienermobile
Hotdoggers must undergo an extensive training program before they’re given the keys to the car; beginning in 1988, recruiters began visiting college campuses across the country looking for program participants. Prospective Hotdoggers must submit applications through January for a one year contract which commences in June. Only graduate students are considered, preferably with degrees in communications and advertising due to the nature of the Hotdogger role as wiener ambassador. At each stop, the Hotdoggers greet the public, answer questions, provide photo opportunities, and hand out merchandise including postcards (which are placed in a mailbox to be returned to Oscar Mayer headquarters for mailing) and the beloved Wienerwhistles. The tiny Wienermobile-shaped whistles were a promotional gimmick designed to be blown by excited children (and possibly a few over-excited adults) who witnessed the Wienermobile passing by. The original metal whistle has been replaced by a plastic one resembling the modern Wienermobile, but it’s still small enough to have the same effect as a hot dog to children under the age of two. The Wienerwhistle has become as much of a cultural icon as the Wienermobile itself, even garnering a cameo appearance in the 1994 film, “The Santa Clause“.
The famous Wienerwhistle
Teams of two pilot the Wienermobile to assigned locations in the areas where their particular vehicle calls home. There are currently six of the 27-footers on the road, along with the diminutive Mini and a Wienermobile food truck; each has a name based on their wiener lingo license plate including WEENR, WNRMOBL and BIG BUN. Don’t bother contacting Oscar Mayer for the next appearance of your friendly neighborhood Wienermobile – the locations are tweeted in a similar manner to food trucks. Hotdoggers also maintain a blog about their adventures on the road, although these don’t appear to be updated daily. The web page features a map where you can see which region has a Wienermobile and where the most recent sighting was.
If riding shotbun (the term applied to a Wienermobile ride-along) is your lifelong dream, the wait in line is considerably longer than for Space Mountain. In addition to special trips for groups like the Make a Wish Foundation, Oscar Mayer also occasionally auctions off use of the Wienermobile for a day (occasionally with a hot dog picnic thrown in for good measure) to benefit various charities. The only way to get to drive the dog is to become a Hotdogger, and with the job requirements and scarcity of positions (less than 20 Hotdoggers per given year) in which to place the thousands who apply, the chances are thinner than an all-natural hot dog casing.
Many have dreamed about getting up-close and personal with Oscar Mayer’s motorized wiener, and in the electronic age this has never been easier. With a little patience and dutiful monitoring of the Wienermobile’s twitter feed you can experience the Wienermobile for yourself; now if I could only get an answer to the mystifying hot dog-to-bun ratio conundrum…
