As he steered the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile onto eastbound I-96 in Detroit on a recent Monday afternoon, “Bun-Length Ben” explained how other drivers typically react to seeing a giant fiberglass hot dog on wheels rolling along nearby.
“People are usually stunned by the Wienermobile, and we usually have a force field around us if we need to make any last-minute lane changes,” said Ben, noting how other drivers tend to give it a little space.
Still, it’s good, he said, to be up high when some decide it’s the right time to grab a photo and make their own sudden lane change to get a better view.
“Bun-Length Ben,” whose real name is Ben Kapp, is a “Hotdogger,” one half of a brand ambassador team to visit metro Detroit in early February in the iconic machine. Kapp and “Bologna Bridget” (Bridget Doyle) had kindly agreed to give a Detroit Free Press reporter and photographer a drive around town in one of the six Wienermobiles traveling in different regions of the country.
It was a homecoming for Doyle, 23. She grew up in Grosse Pointe (the vehicle was a notable presence there and in other locations during their visit), but this was Kapp’s first time in Detroit, and in their spare time, Doyle said she planned to show him around the area. That would, fittingly, include a planned visit to The Henry Ford in Dearborn, where a Wienermobile from 1952 is part of the collection (notably, the Wienermobile celebrates its 90th birthday this year).
Kapp, 22, hails from the Sauk Prairie area of Wisconsin and recalled how errands with his mom formed an early connection to a brand that used to have its headquarters and a major plant in nearby Madison.
“We’d drive by the Oscar Mayer plant, and we’d hum the jingle, sing the jingle, and so it’s just every time I see the Wienermobile I hear her singing that little jingle and it brings me back to that place,” he said.
(In case you need a nudge, it starts with, “Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener …”)
Doyle’s connection is much more recent, seeing a Wienermobile for the first time on campus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where both she and Kapp majored in journalism. They applied for and were accepted into the year-long Hotdogger program, went through a couple of weeks of training and will wrap up their service in June.
They’ve been to a slew of cities. Kapp’s year started on the East Coast, and Doyle’s started out West.
While it doesn’t take a special license to drive the Wienermobile, getting behind the wheel means maneuvering a machine that’s 27 feet long, 11 feet high and 8 feet wide. It’s powered by a Chevy Vortec V8 engine and has a chassis Doyle described as similar to a box truck.
It’s not the smoothest of rides, with Michigan’s legendary potholes and bumps on full display.
“It handles like a big hot dog on wheels,” Doyle said. “I was definitely nervous the first time I drove it, but the turning radius is pretty bunderful, and I’m pretty comfortable driving this dog now.”
By the way, “bunderful” isn’t a typo. These Hotdoggers speak in puns. Lots of puns.
“We’ve got buns and buns of puns,” Kapp said. “When you’re in the Wienermobile for so long it kind of takes over your body. We’ve got to speak for the Wienermobile and personify it because it has such a … big dog personality.”
Punning comes more from what they’ve picked up along the way than from a focus in training, Doyle said.
“Language is best learned through immersion, and we’re immersed in the Wienermobile every day,” she said. “I mustard-mit we relish every single pun we deliver.”
They also get to relish the reactions from the scores of folks who can’t help but smile when they see the Wienermobile and want to get a closer look.
That’s what happened during a stop at a shopping center on Detroit’s west side. A few people asked about free hot dogs, which aren’t on the menu, but others were just excited to see inside. Doyle and Kapp said they leave the cooking to the professionals elsewhere, though they do give out lots of Wiener Whistles (they’re basically whistles shaped like little Wienermobiles).
The theme is appropriate: Mustard yellow and ketchup red seats adorned with little Wienermobile logos and even a wavy mustard line on the floor.
Tonya Hood, 63, of Detroit saw the Wienermobile and had to stop over.
“I think this is so cool. I just wish it was summer time and the kids were out of school and they could be around ’cause they would have so much fun. Not that we adults don’t but just the thought of them seeing it …” Hood said, trailing off for a moment. “But that’s so cool you took the time to come.”
It’s those kinds of interactions around the country that have helped make this year special for Kapp.
“You really get a taste of the community because everybody’s willing to talk to you, which is fantastic,” he said.
Eric D. Lawrence is the senior car culture reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Send your tips and suggestions about cool automotive stuff to elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Inside a ride in iconic Oscar Mayer Wienermobile as it tours Detroit
Reporting by Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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