Zach Kirk, a student teacher in Marci Boland’s business classes, came to CHS with some unusual experience. After he completed college at the University of Missouri, he toured all across America for a year in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Standing at 27 feet long, the Wienermobile is a giant hot dog on wheels. Since its inception in the late 1930s, the Wienermobile has become an American icon. Oscar Mayer uses the vehicle to promote sales for its products. The company selects students out of college, like Kirk, to operate the mobile.

Kirk first saw the job when passing a poster at Mizzou. He sent in his information and attended an informational meeting. Kirk was then interviewed on campus, and later flew out to Madison, Wisconsin for the final interview.

“It was really dumb luck that I just kind of came across the opportunity,” Kirk said. “I didn’t know about it until I saw the poster.”

Kirk’s first two weeks on the job were in Madison, Wisconsin. He was trained to drive the Wienermobile by starting in a parking lot with cones. Eventually he got to take the mobile out on the road with one of the instructors.

The job entailed more than just driving. Kirk and his partner were responsible for managing media relations all along their route. When they rolled into town, they would set up events for the mobile. Using local media, they would promote their visit.

“Our job was to reach out to the news stations, radio stations, the local papers, and anyone we could possible get a hold of and try to promote these events that we were doing in the area,” Kirk said. “We would then write the press releases for those media outlets and then we would do the interviews with the media. I remember I was in Tulsa Oklahoma singing the Oscar Mayer song to the Good Morning Tulsa Show.”

During Kirk’s one-year contract, he was almost always on the road. It was hard not to attract attention in the Wienermobile.

“So even if it was your day off, and you weren’t going to an event and maybe you wanted to go catch a movie, our only mode of transportation was the Wienermobile, so we would take the Wienermobile to the movie theater,” Kirk said. “Well, everybody would follow you, and they would follow you until you pulled up into a parking lot and you would be swarmed by people.”

Between events, the Wienermobile got a lot of miles. Thankfully, Kirk never put a scratch on the vehicle, but he remembers a close call.

“I was worried one time up in Chicago that we were going to be in a fender bender,” Kirk said. “We turned onto a one way street that I wasn’t anticipating, and the cars lined both sides of the street, and I said, ‘There’s no way that we are going to get through here without hitting every single car,’ and I have no clue how we did it.”

By the end of Kirk’s one-year contract, he was ready to find his next project. Being on the road for a long time had become repetitive.

“The reason it’s [the contract] only one year is because then you start to get the same questions over and over and over,” Kirk said. “One of the questions was, ‘Do you sleep in there?’ and we’re supposed to use the pun, ‘It’s not a Wienerbago,’ and that gets old after a while.”

Once Kirk’s year was up, Kraft gave him further opportunities in their company. Kirk was uninterested, however, because of the towns the work would call him to. Instead, he decided to work for Maritz as a travel director.

Despite the fact that Kirk didn’t continue with Kraft, he was glad he had taken the job.

“It was a great experience,” Kirk said. “The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile is really an American icon. It’s been around since 1936. It’s made it through the years, and it’s one of those company logos and icons that are still out there.”