Two-person team behind the mystery campaign at the Enjoy Illinois 300 says it is pulling advertising dollars out of Big Tech and putting them into local tracks, businesses and events. NHRA sponsorship follows Oct. 2–4.

Collinsville, IL September 17, 2026 –(PR.com)– HatLaunch has signed NASCAR driver and broadcaster Kenny Wallace as a sponsored partner, following the company’s UsedHotdogs.com campaign — a two-week, two-person marketing stunt that turned a fictitious “used hot dog” resale business into one of the most-discussed storylines of Enjoy Illinois 300 weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway.

The Wallace agreement caps a campaign that drove more than 19,000 visits to UsedHotdogs.com in three days and generated more than 100 organic social media posts from fans, media and race teams trying to figure out what the brand actually was. HatLaunch will next sponsor the NHRA drag racing event at World Wide Technology Raceway on Oct. 2–4, and sponsored the UMP Modified feature at Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville on the Friday night of race weekend.

HatLaunch says the campaign is the visible piece of a deliberate shift in how the company spends. Founder and CEO Robert Hamm built the business on online advertising, and is now moving a share of that budget out of TikTok, Google and Instagram and into local racetracks, events and vendors.

“We have spent years handing our marketing budget to companies that have never set foot in this community,” said Robert Hamm, CEO and Founder of HatLaunch. “The same money that disappears into an ad platform can put a banner over a racetrack, pay a local pilot, print shirts at a local shop and put 1,800 pieces of branded gear into people’s hands. We got more attention out of a hot dog joke than we have gotten out of some very expensive ad campaigns — and every dollar of it stayed here.”

The campaign ran without an explanation of any kind. HatLaunch replaced track signage at World Wide Technology Raceway with UsedHotdogs.com branding, hired a pilot to fly a banner over the facility, and took the stage during Kenny Wallace Live to throw half hot dogs, shirts and hats into the crowd. At its midway booth, the company ran a “Weiner Launch” game and gave away 1,000 hats and 800 shirts carrying the “Cash For Weiners” logo.

There was no product, no explanation and no call to action — only a domain name. Fans photographed the signage, posted the banner plane and traded theories online for days. Traffic to the site continued after the race weekend ended.

On the Friday night of race weekend, HatLaunch sponsored the UMP Modified feature at Belle-Clair Speedway, the dirt track in Belleville, and presented the race winner Mike Harrison with a hot dog–themed trophy in victory lane.

The Wallace partnership extends the campaign past a single race weekend. Wallace, a NASCAR race winner and longtime broadcaster whose “Kenny Wallace Live” stage show is a fixture of the World Wide Technology Raceway schedule, will carry HatLaunch branding across track signage, grandstand banners, plane banners, and signs throughout the raceway common areas. Terms were not disclosed.

“Two people did this in two weeks,” Hamm said. “That is the part local business owners should hear. You do not need an agency or a six-figure budget to get people talking about you. You need a good idea and a willingness to spend it in your own backyard.”

HatLaunch says it intends to continue sponsoring regional motorsports and local events through the remainder of 2026 and into 2027.

About HatLaunch
HatLaunch is a custom headwear and apparel company based in Collinsville, Illinois. Founded in 2018 by Robert Hamm, the company has produced nearly 2 million hats for customers across America. More information is available at hatlaunch.com.

About UsedHotdogs.com
UsedHotdogs.com is a satirical marketing campaign created by HatLaunch. It is not a business, and no concession items were resold. The campaign was produced to demonstrate what a local advertising budget can accomplish when it is spent inside the community rather than on national digital ad platforms.

Media Contact
Adam Weber, Marketing Director
HatLaunch
6365414214
Adam@hatlaunch.com

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Hatlaunch
Adam Weber
636-541-4214
Contact via Email
www.hatlaunch.com

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