Inside Chicago's Mega Test Track

By Marty Padgett

Marty Padgett

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Marty Padgett is High Gear Media's Editorial Director, overseeing the words that skim across High Gear Media's portfolio of automotive destinations... More

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John Tulloch, Chrysler CHicago Track 2005

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2005 Chicago Auto Show Index by TCC

“So, how fast do you have to be going to launch this puppy into the air?” This is not the question the test driver wants to hear as he pulls a Wrangler up to the 20-foot peak that is the highest point on the Chrysler Group display at the Chicagoauto show. He chuckles worriedly and proceeds on up the hill in our Jeep Unlimited — the tallest point reachable on the show floor unless you scale Dodge’s equally impressive ram’s-head signage at the opposite end of the track, which as it turns out, isn’t allowed.

It’s not merely an off-road re-enactment we’re sampling here. It’s a four-station, Disneyesque dabbling in “experience” marketing that resulted in what Chrysler says was the largest test track ever constructed for an auto show. And though the Chicago show for 2005 is history, you can be sure that Chrysler is looking at a bigger and better experience for '06.

Taking up 156,000 square feet — about the size of three and half American football fields — the course is split into four sections. A half-mile “test track” in the middle splits the off-road Jeep section from the Dodge truck towing area and the Chrysler driving areas. Jeep anchors one end of the display, while the 28-foot-tall ram’s head illuminates the other, signaling either Dodge’s supremely American brand or some bizarre satanic ritual meeting spot.

The statistics don’t make any rational sense. The display is composed of more than 115 semi trailers full of material, 1100 cubic yards of topsoil, boulders, gravel, concrete and timbers, almost eight miles of electric cable, and seemingly, enough plasma-screen TVs to outfit the Tate Modern. Those aren’t real boulders strewn about the Jeep area, they’re plastic ones wired for sound outfitted with fans to keep the car exhaust circulating.

The entire affair takes six days to assemble and four to dismantle — and it’s the duty of John Tulloch, senior vice president for client relations at George P. Johnson to make sure it flows smoothly. Tulloch’s company produces much of the Chrysler Group’s media displays, everything from auto-show stands to press drives to the popular Camp Jeep getaways organized by the brand in places like Santa Barbara. Though not strictly limited to automotive clients — they produce events for Cisco, IBM, and other technology companies — half their clients are companies like Toyota, Nissan, and Chrysler.

In the last day before an estimated 1.2 million people descend on the auto show (maybe more, since the weather’s improving to 50 degrees for the opening weekend), Tulloch is in perpetual motion, handed off from one PR person to the next, suited up and welded to his walkie talkie. But he’s done this before on a smaller scale, so there’s no rush and drama — just final tweaks before the doors open at

The idea for the humongous test track — which looks surprisingly small in