IRVINE, Ky. (LEX 18) — A giant hot dog hot rod rolled through central Kentucky today and parked in Estill County. The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile drew the attention of people of all ages.
“The Wienermobile has been around for 88 years, so we have generations of people that have grown up around the Wienermobile,” said Sam “Hammy Sammy” Dlott, who drives this Wienermobile. “I met a 3-week-old baby that came in a hot dog costume. We nicknamed him ‘Beefy Bowie.’”
This is one of six Wienermobiles traveling across the country. The traveling hot dog served up smiles, coupons, and plenty of puns.
Dlott opened up the side hatch, showing off the inside. “The seat next to the driver we call shot-bun, and before we get going, we make sure we buckle our meat-belts,” he said. “My favorite is I like calling the Wienermobile a Lambor-weenie, I think that’s fun.”
All jokes aside, Dlott truly enjoys connecting with local communities across the country.
“I fell in love with the Wienermobile because you get to spread miles of smiles. When you're here in Kentucky and people are coming up and seeing it for the first time, or maybe they saw it when they were growing up, that's always really special to share those memories or make new ones. Especially for kiddos coming out and seeing us.”
One of these kiddos brought a homemade project. Clive Martin is a first grader at Waco Elementary School in Madison County.
“My mom is holding a hot dog book I’m writing,” Martin said. " I've been working on it for a while. I've been working on it at school a lot, and it's fun.”
Clive named his book "Hot Dog Man". Not only did he write it, he served as the illustrator as well. The inspiration came from a school lunch.
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“That day, I had hot dogs for lunch at school, and I was like, 'why shouldn’t I write a hot dog book?'” Clive said. “Now, like everyone in my class now has started writing books too.”
“To know that we’re driving a hot dog and that’s kind of an intersection of what he loves to do, and that’s writing, and sharing his love of hot dogs with the Wienermobile, is really special,” Dlott said after Clive showed off his book.
If you didn’t have the chance to ketchup with the Wienermobile in Irvine, the dog will drive to the Lawrenceburg Walmart Thursday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
