Sarah Oney, nicknamed Sarahkraut, gets in her car, buckles her meatbelt and heads to work every morning like millions of Americans. The only difference is Sarah’s car is a 27-foot-long hotdog — the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.
The Wienermobile will be dropping its buns in Champaign from Thursday to Sunday, and is scheduled to visit many grocery stores in the area. Glizzy fans can ketchup with it at the following locations:
- Friday, Oct. 11
- Danville County Market – 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Tilton County Market – 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 12
- Charleston County Market – 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Niemann’s Mattoon – 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
- Sunday, Oct. 13
- Maranatha Christian Academy Fall Festival – 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Oney and her partner, Stephen Harrison, also known as Sizzling Stephen, work as “Hotdoggers” and drive one of six Wienermobiles around the country to different communities. Oney, originally from Atlanta, applied to be a Hotdogger when the Wienermobile came to the University of Georgia — her alma mater.
“This is my dream job … They’ll get around 7,500 applicants, and they pick 12 people,” Oney said. “You genuinely have to be one lucky dog to get (it).”
Sizzling Stephen’s mom sent him the job application, and after he looked into what a Hotdogger entails, he decided it would be the “coolest job ever.”
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Hotdoggers work for a full year in two six-month blocks. Oney and Harrison are stationed regionally in the Midwest for the rest of the year but will switch partners and get a new region for the second half of their term.
“He and I have been in a lot of small towns, which has been great, but also Chicago, Minneapolis, all the bigger cities in the Midwest too,” Oney said. “We’ve been everywhere. We’ve driven 15,000 miles.”
Kraft Heinz, parent organization of Oscar Mayer, is headquartered in Chicago and the drivers relish the excitement of visiting locals.
“The Wienermobile originated in Chicago … so it’s really special, particularly to the people of Illinois,” Harrison said.
Jacob Fong, senior in LAS, spotted the huge wiener on Thursday morning by the Armory on his way to class. Fong said he thinks Wienermobile is a great way to advertise Oscar Mayer, as it provides a chance for people to connect with the brand.
“I was walking down the street and there were tons of students going to class and they were all so sad, and the second the Wienermobile showed up and started honking, everyone was … waving and having a good day,” Fong said.
Nicoletta Spiliopoulos, senior in LAS, and Ysabelle Pinpin, senior in ACES, also saw the Wienermobile on Thursday morning in front of Lincoln Hall.
“As I was walking, I was complaining to Ysabelle about my premed journey because I’m trying to apply to medical school. I was complaining about how stressful that was, and then we saw the Wienermobile,” Spiliopoulos said.
Although Spiliopoulos was delighted to see the Wienermobile, she said this was not her first encounter with the hotdog-on-wheels.
“It’s bus-sized — I’ve seen it before, that’s why I wasn’t that impressed by the size of it,” Spiliopoulos said.
Starting in January, Oney and Harrison will be driving around college campuses, recruiting future Wienermobile Hotdoggers. With applications opening soon, Oney offered a few words of advice.
“Be yourself in the interview process, because the interviewers want to see that you’re a person with a bubbly personality and can really inspire people when you travel the country for the year,” Oney said. “So be yourself and don’t take it too seriously through the application process.”
For students hoping to catch a whiff of the Wienermobile, which Oney calls her “Lamboweenie,” Oney and Harrison said they plan to make the rounds on Green Street sometime over the weekend.
