Mike Moser "I Say" Published April 22, 2005

But what about the Wienermobile?

Never mind a young mother with three children in a van rolled over on I-40 between the Plateau Rd. and Hwy. 127 N exits last week. No one seemed to notice the three empty beer bottles troopers had pulled from the carnage and placed on the hood of the wrecked van.
Everyone noticed the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in the background.

Life is like that sometimes.

I can sweat blood over a column or a news story and never get the first phone call, not one e-mail, not a solitary response.

But let a giant mobile hotdog race through a wreck scene and get captured in the background of a news photo and it becomes the event of the week.

Those in the Chronicle news room were slightly amused when I dumped images from my digital camera into the computer system for last Friday's newspaper. After all, it is not every day one captures a speeding Wienermobile passing through a wreck scene.

Wish I could say the photo was staged but it wasn't. I had my back to the westbound traffic as I concentrated on taking photos of the troopers at work. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the giant hotdog on wheels and snapped three photos.

It was different. We ran the photo. And the responses came in.

One lady asked me if I had a clearer photo of the meat company's mobile mascot. Sorry, but when a speeding wiener comes flying down the interstate at 50-plus miles per hour, and you don't know it is coming, you settle for what you might get.

Another reader wanted to know where the Wienermobile was headed. I didn't have a clue. The Wienermobile didn't pause on its journey to announce its destination.

I was to learn later where it was headed.

The Tennessean published a story Monday announcing the death of the ex-wiener pitchman and his funeral in Merrillville, IN Saturday.

George Molchan, 82, portrayed the meat processor's spokesman, Little Oscar, for more than three decades, traveling from town to town in the Wienermobile.
Molchan and the hot dog on wheels made appearances in parades and at grand opening of shopping centers and grocery stores around the country.

Saturday the 27-foot-long Oscar Meyer Wienermobile was parked near Molchan's grave, drawing smiles from dozens attending his memorial, the Associated Press reported.

If that is not vision enough for you, about 50 mourners joined in a chorus of, "Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener," and then blew short blasts on miniature, hot dog-shaped whistles.

Now that, my friends, is a news event and while many of our readers enjoyed seeing the motorized hotdog motoring down I-40 through Cumberland County, I would have loved to have witnessed that scene. I think I would have relished the moment.

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Mike Moser is the editor of the Crossville Chronicle. His column is published periodically on Fridays.