Dog Days: A Year in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

by Dave Ihlenfeld

It was the ultimate post-college road a year-long journey in a 27-foot-long fiberglass hotdog across the US and Europe. Rife with breakdowns, meaty puns, the burdens of instant celebrity and more Wiener Whistles than anyone could ever hope for, Ihlenfeld's uproarious recounting of his time behind the wheel is a coming-of-age story-as irreverent as it is touching-of learning about life, love, and (sausage) links, ultimately arriving at the realization that that the future is anything but a straight road.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Travel, Humor, Food

217 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2011

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though the odds were against him, Dave Ihlenfeld made the cut, and became a Hotdogger for a year, the prime perk of which is taking THIS -

out for a spin.

Ihlenfeld's account of his year spent traveling inside a giant wiener is sprinkled with delightful Oscar Meyer trivia, such as the writing of that oh, so famous jingle in 1963, (now the longest-running jingle in America), to the history and development of the iconic Wienermobiles.

Along the way, he learns lessons in patience, getting along with others, and how to maneuver a 27-foot-long fiberglass hotdog through a toll booth. AND, he gains a new philosophy of life:

...life is like a long road trip. There are breakdowns and there are beautiful distractions, but there's no real road map. You just make a right here, a left there and see what happens.

On the whole, this is a well-written travelogue, and a look inside not only a landmark vehicle, but a most unusual marketing campaign.

I was tempted to subtract a star as I got really tired of his wanting deserving-to-get-laid spiel, and the attitude that stems from some males who seem to believe that just because they think a woman is hot, she should want to use their penises. Seriously? Does this ever work for anyone? (Ihlenfeld has apparently found an outlet for this brand of humor as a writer for Family Guy.)

Ketchup with your reading as this one really cuts the mustard, and should therefore, be relished.

Sorry.

The Devil Little Oscar made me do it.

[Yolanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a funny book to sandwich my other books and this one hit the spot. It was light, amusing with just enough history about the weinermobile. The twenty-two year old author received the job offer to be a hotdogger for one year. Part of the interview he had to sing the tune "Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer. . ." I think that is one song most of us remember. I say give this book a try, I smiled and laughed throughout the book.

[Bea Elwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

So on the one hand, this a cute book about a privileged white male who graduates from college with no real goals or direction for his life (a wimpy counterpoint to Into the Wild perhaps) and who finds purpose and worth in traveling for an odd, year long job. But, on the other hand, a genuine case study for male privilege. Could you imagine being one of the women he has to work with? I'm creeped by this guy and I don't think he even realizes how slimy he presents himself to be.

[Kat Scratch Fever · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was so funny and interesting... Until he starts talking about the women he shared the road with. Between describing one as "like a doll, but one you want to do unspeakable things to" and another as "somewhere between a pole vaulter and a point guard" (African Amercian woman) Dave should stick to the history and anecdotes of the Weinermobile and leave his horny middle aged reminicisngs at home. Fuck you Dave.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This very quick read is a mishmash of themes: it's a little bit road trip, a little romance, a little history. IT's about a guy who drives around in an Oscar Meyer Weinermobile for a year. You will learn about the history of the company, you will enjoy hearing about the narrator and his madcap adventures. What I liked was the humorous tone of this novel, as well as the likability of the writer.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pro: Stories of life on the road, dealing with Oscar Meyer corporate culture, etc.

Con: The reality teevee aspect of the narrative, especially regarding the author's (fantasies of a) romantic life. Also, seemed a bit dated more than a decade later.

One of those "I wish there were a 2.5 rating" as two stars feels a bit dismissive, yet three stars implies I liked it (overall) more than I did.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dog Days by Dave Ihlenfeld caught my eye at the library. The cover sports a Wienermobile parking in front of a suburban home. While I'm no fan of Oscar Mayer products and have never seen the Wienermobile in person, I was curious. I read the book on the "there's a memoir about everything" front.

Dave Ihlenfeld spent a summer after college driving a Wienermobile. Actually is it was a couple different vehicles — depending on where in the world he was (including a strange trip to Germany). Ihlenfeld outlines how piss poor the maintenance of the cars were and how expendable the driving staff was seen as from upper management. Nonetheless, he seems to have had fun and has capture the good, the bad and the ugly in an entertaining memoir.

Interspersed with his adventures are chapters on the history of the Oscar Mayer company and its fleet of Wienermobiles. These are the sections, I suppose, where readers are supposed to get all nostalgic and weepy for the whistle they had as a kid. Having never seen the cars nor the whistles, I read these sections more as a curious observer. The take away is that advertising is demented no mater what the product.

[Lori Tatar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute autobiography of a young adult coming of age and learning how to deal with the curveballs life throws at us sometimes. Its humor runs a bit short of being truly comedic but would still make a fun gift for many high school and college graduates, especially with a few dollars tucked in!

[Bookstax · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should have been so much better than it was. Although the author asserts that spending a year driving the weinermobile would be one of the best jobs ever, he doesn't really show this in the book. That said, this is the perfect book for mindless vacation reading. I read it during a round trip bus ride to and from Chicago. Some books are just good for that-- this is one of them.

[Dawnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book....read it all in one sitting. The author is pretty funny and I loved learning more about the Hotdogger program. I learned about it a tad too late, otherwise I think I would've made an excellent Hotdogger!

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There's no room in the Wienermobile for secrets" that pretty much says it all. I thought the book started a little slow but after the author was hired the book picked up speed and sucked me in. A fun light read and now I want my own damn Wienermobile whistle.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

After spending a year on the road in the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile, I thought the author would have more interesting stories to tell.

[cat · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have reached a new low with my "Year of" obsession. Someone stop me, please?

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

A coworker told me about this book and I expressed no real interest in it and definitely didn't say I wanted to read it, but she brought it to work for me, so I felt obligated to do so. I had no interest in Oscar Mayer or the Wienermobile or this man or anything about it, so I put off reading it for a while. I finally made myself and then I rushed through it in 2 days.

It was immediately funny and you can tell the author is a funny person. I love that sarcastic sense of humor.

I didn't really enjoy the stories, the Hot Dog High held no interest for me, nor the details of driving the Wienermobile or the functions in which they passed out whistles. I just didn't care about the subject and the whole time I couldn't stop thinking "I would have never wanted to read this."

When it got to women, I was so put off. The group talked about their first times and his was meeting a girl in another country with his friend, so she invites this stranger to her place, and he goes to the stranger's house and things progress but there are no condoms, so he runs to a store to get some, and when he gets back, she's asleep, but he wakes her up and they do it. He lied and said it was last year instead of just a few months ago so they wouldn't think he was a loser. He fell for one of his driving partners, but she got with someone else. While liking this girl, he was flirtatiously emailing another girl, who met them on the road, and they had sex and he kept trying to push her to have sex in the Wienermobile because he wanted to belong to that club. She got mad and said no. One time, after knowing the girl was with another group member, he asked if they could have sex and not talk about it. Another driving partner he wasn't sexually attracted to, liked her like a sister. Like HE was too good for HER. Another girl he asked if he could kiss. All of this information should have been kept private, because it was very inappropriate and off-putting. He just went around trying to have sex with everyone and comparing their looks and sizing them up for a sexual partner like he was a horn dog and could have his pick of anyone, never mind what they thought of him. It was gross. He shouldn't have shared that in the novel and just kept it on business.

[Mary Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was intrigued when I saw this in our library's book sale. I needed something light, and I've become quite fascinated by industry memoirs, so I couldn't leave it behind. So glad I didn't!

Dog Days is nostalgic, fun, engaging, and well-written. Ihlenfeld comes across as a likeable but directionless college graduate. His honesty about being a bit shallow is as refreshing as his self-effacing humor. He's no paragon of virtue, but his underlying good character and decency shine through - he's someone we enjoy spending time with.

Of course, the main character in this book is the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. I've seen the Wienermobile a time or two in my life, and it's so ridiculous that it can't help but raise a smile. And that's the genius behind this marketing tool. Ihlenfeld does a good job of interspersing the history of Oscar Mayer (the man as well as the company), and the Wienermobile without allowing it to weigh down the narrative. But we also get to see behind the scenes of the Wienermobile, what it's like to be a "hotdogger," making hot dog puns and handing out wienie whistles for a living.

But like any good story, this one goes a bit deeper, and we see Ihlenfeld grow and mature over the year he and his team spend on the road, facing challenges, recognizing their strengths, and finding their direction, in more ways than one.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always loved the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. To me, it is the second coolest ever (the first being the 1966 Batmobile). So I expected this book to be amusing, but I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. The author, facing college graduation and having no idea what to do with his life, applies to be a Wienermobile driver when the Oscar Mayer company sends recruiters to his campus. He gets the job (otherwise there would be no book, right?), and we are treated to an often hilarious travel narrative -- from California to Florida, to Mardi Gras in New Orleans (where he spends a night in jail for urinated on the steps of a church because there are no public toilets and the bars charge money to use their restrooms) -- and even to Germany and Italy, when he is selected to be part of an overseas team touring U.S. Army bases. We get to know the author and his traveling companions, their working relationships and the bonds they form -- alone with short chapters covering the history of the Wienermobile. It was a delightful read!

[Linda Smatzny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the author's recount of his year driving an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. He and his time traveled up and down the state of California with an older wiernermobile. Next was a time in the southwestern part of the US. After the holidays, the author and a new partner did some big events in the south including Mardi Gras in New Orleans. His final trip was six weeks in Europe visiting US air bases. The book includes some black and white photos. The book was a quick easy read.

[Reb Belstner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light, enjoyable read which removes the mystique behind this iconic advertising vehicle. While I no longer have my hopes up for being a Hotdogger, I would recommend the experience to any just out of college kid who has the opportunity.

[Andrea Elkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining memoir about spending a year on the road as a representative of Oscar Meyer. A pretty fast read, with a good amount of history, humor and low-dose introspection.

[Kris Kizer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was funny and interesting. I could see it being a YA travel movie.

[Alison Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting to hear about all the tribulations that went into the Wienermobile program.

[Carole Clmt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite book of the year !

[Alexander Ochotorena · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting read if want a view of what life driving the wienermobile is like.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun!

[RebL · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memoir by a former driver of an Oscar Mayer Weeniemobile. Better than you might think.

[Robin Brink · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for more on the general weinermobile stories, not so much on his unrequited love at a very naive 22

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best book I have ever read about driving the wiener mobile.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly entertaining, not too long, and replete with the author's self-deprecating humor, this is the story of a college graduate faced with finding a 'real' job, and who elects to spend a year driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile around the U.S. (and briefly, at a US military base in Germany), and his adventures that ensue.

Ihlenfeld's description of the various travel partners he is assigned (he has changed names and combined personalities of some of the players for privacy's sake) were very witty and the one-liners they were taught at "Hot Dog High", a two-week training program for all the 'hotdoggers' as they were known, are hilarious. The suggested answers they learn to give when people ask questions consist of bad puns.

Examples:
"What does it run on?" Answer: "High-octane mustard."
"Does it have air conditioning?" Answer: "It's not a chili dog."

I enjoyed the book thoroughly for the light entertainment that it was. I also saw the Wienermobile driving through my town about 10 years ago, crossing the Columbia River Bridge, but nobody believes me.

[Therese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for non-fiction book club at CLPL (Real World Reads) January 2015. The style is memoir. This is a summer job plus coming of age story, but in an unusual car. It is a fun lighthearted read that will give you a nice dose of nostalgia, you'll learn a bit about the history of Oscar Meyer (and if you live near Chicago it is a little hometown interest as well), and you'll see the joy and challenges they had driving these crazy cars. I learned that you always take "weenie whistles" with you when going to Walmart because everybody will stop you for one, how outdated these cars still are, and if I know a young person looking for something fun to do the summer after they finish college, I know where to tell them to apply. Although we read this in January, I would recommend this more as a summer read, since it is a bubbly travel journal of a young man with a playful attitude.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dog Days: A Year in the Oscar Mayer Wiener mobile by Dave Ihlenfeld

Like many people after graduating from college, Dave Ihlenfeld had no idea what he wanted or was going to do for the summer much less the rest of his life. A Naperville native, Dave graduated from the University of Missouri’s journalism school and applied to become a “Hotdogger” driving a “Weinermobile” for Oscar Mayer.

I remember seeing the Weinermobile as a kid and just last year saw one with my daughter at a suburban event, so I was interested to read about someone who actually drove one. This is a fun, quick read that includes chapters about the history of Oscar Mayer and the Weinermobile program as well as the year the author spent driving around the U.S. and even Europe in a 27 foot long hot dog.