Have you heard of World Champion Punkin Chunkin? It is proof men will compete – over anything

For those who have never heard of this sport, you are missing out. I watched this year’s event on the Science channel, in full and stunning High Definition. I had seen it once before, I believe it was on the Discovery Channel back then but I am not sure. After investigating a bit I found that it is common knowledge that John Ellsworth, Trey Melson, Bill Thompson and Donald "Doc" Pepper were the 4 men who got the who things started back in 1986. That first year was testosterone filled, just like this year’s event. The record that year was 126 foot while the winning “chunk” this year was over 3000 feet – into the wind no less. Last year’s winner also set a new world record at 4,483.51 feet and yes folks, that is about 800 feet less than a mile. That record came out of an air cannon name of Young Glory III with the runner up being Emancipator at 4084.62 feet and Chunk-n-ology brought in third at 4042.24 feet. Yes they are chunkin punkins with homemade contraptions and they are measuring the distance in 100th of a foot – is that not funny?

What started out amongst 4 friends, with beer no doubt, building little catapults throwing a punkin this year drew over 20,000 people and that brought in over $100,000 in ticket sales alone. According to the officials over $70,000 of that purse is being distributed as scholarships to a variety of local community organizations. The best I could tell the event takes place between Georgetown and Bridgeville Delaware, kind of on the eastern shore of Maryland. I know Bride and I drove close to that place in 1990 when we were on our way to Ocean City for our Honeymoon. Something I was impressed to find out was this year's event was organized by an all-volunteer committee. It was quite a spectacle to watch on television but what I found even more interesting was the companion show that followed a few of the contestants while they built or tuned up their machines. They followed builders/competitors from a couple of different categories. There are of course 15 different categories ranging from the big dog Air Cannons to the youth, under 10 trebuchet class 8 group. There really is something for every builder, anyone can put together something and “chunk a punkin”.

There are 19 general rules to punkin chunkin. Rules like “the punkin must remain intact until they impact the ground” and “no explosives are allowed”. There are obviously disclaimers that relieve the promoters from responsibility, of course some of these machines weigh over 15 tons and can shoot a 8-10 pound punkin damn near a mile. They are DANERGOUS! And of course there is a rule that tells us there are no pets aloud in the pits, like I would take my kitty to such an event. In addition to the 19 general rules there are also an additional 28 rules, not including the 8 from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Or the DNREC and those 8 are non negotiable. They talk about the air tanks meeting the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (A.S.M.E.) construction codes and that they must have the manufactures nameplate with proper (A.S.M.E.) stamping that indicates the vessel’s allowable working pressure. It is a comprehensive set of rules that must be followed and just reading them one immediately understands the dangerous nature of this sport. The champion in the centrifugal class has his machine built on the back of a very old ford farm truck and when it gets up to speed, the entire truck is vibrating so badly that the contestants can be seen bouncing around like rag dolls inside. If by chance that arm were to come , spinning that fast, I am sure people would be killed. It is dangerous!

Strictly from the engineering perspective some of these machines were truly impressive. While the air cannons were extraordinary in their size and distance capabilities I was more impressed with the other categories, mostly for their sheer ingenuousness. The six categories are the trebuchet, centrifugal, theatrical, catapult, torsion and the Air cannon. One fellow they followed was building a centrifugal and he had obviously had some engineering background because he had built the thing to chunk a punkin much farther than the reigning champion in the category. It appeared to be well built and was impressively designed, I thought so anyway. They did not perform well and ended up breaking the machine. There were others in the other categories that I found equally impressive. In the torsion category there was one that was wound up with rubber bands (BIG damn rubber bands) and it performed well. Some of the entrants used very large springs that were stretched or in some cases compressed in order to get the punkins going. As much fun as it was to watch I kept coming back to how dangerous some of these homemade machines actually were. Some I would not want to be anywhere near when they were charging up.

This is especially true of the bigger machines. Some of the air cannons have over 1000 gallons of compressed air that is being contained, at over 100 PSI, in modified propane gas tanks. Modified propane tanks? Some of these things look as if they belong in the old Mad Max movie. Huge, with long barrels, 60 foot plus on the barrel length. It is crazy! It is dangerous! It is one of those guilty pleasures for me, I enjoy watching. I am not sure I would tell just anyone that I watch but I find the mechanicalness of the machines to be truly impressive. AND they shoot a punkin thousands of feet. It is Crazy! They even grow special punkins for this competition, they are white and have a side wall that is nearly 2 times thicker than the normal orange ones we carve faces on. They showed us a new breed of punkin this year that appeared nearly solid, that will be the prominent punkin at future events of that I am sure. I have no doubt that the big air cannons will be shooting them further than a mile. They might consider involving some additional folks - the golf ball designers with the horticulturists and the aerospace engineers from NASA and DARPA coupled with the folks at Budweiser. They would sponsor the research and plaster their logo all over the place and we will have the perfect genetically engineered punkin chunkin punkin. At that point the sky is the limit and a mile will soon seem like Childs play.

Well, like I said I doubt I will ever make the trip to see it in person but I will continue to watch it. Who knows I may go just to examine the ingenuity of the machine builders. If you have never watched and see a preview, go ahead – enjoy the guilty pleasure.