BIG 10 Inch Punkin Chunker History


	History 2008 Three teams joined the 4000 foot club this year. We however, consistently shot poorly. We equalled our '99 shot but the world has moved on. The vagaries of vegetables plays with you each year. There are so many variables that it becomes a crap shoot. That said, 8th place really sucks. 2007: The Big 10 Inch has risen again. The carved wood traveling trophy is now up to 850 lbs. On Friday, the first day of the 2007 competition, we were ahead with a shot of 3490 feet. The current champ, 2nd Amendment, gets to shoot last each day. Theirs went 63 feet farther. The winds from offshore hurricane Noel shifted from NE on Fri, to right into everyones barrels out of the N on Sat. We had the best shot that day at 3416 feet, beating the champ by 178 feet. Sunday, the winds died down somewhat and came out of their prevailing NW. We fired the best pumpkin we've ever had for a 4211 footer. This bested all others by 631 feet that day and matched our best shot in 2005. 2006 How did we do? Not well. Actually, we sucked. Well actually, no one did well - the cold temps and wind knocked down all shots, but we were hit harder than many. Our poor showing (6th) relative to the other cannons could be attributed to our competition growing every year. There were 22 cannons this year. If you have 10 fully competitive foes your odds of finishing "in the money" fall off, just due to the "vagaries of vegetables". 2005 The competition got even tighter this year with 20 air cannons participating, including the 2003 and 2004 world champions, "Second Amendment" and "Old Glory". We were very pleased to establish a personal best shot of 4211 feet (1.28 km) (That's 8/10 mile)! This gave us a third place finish -- hats off to "Second Amendment" and "Y ask Y" who edged us by 121 and 56 feet, respectively. 2004 The competition got tight this year. Now a half-dozen machines have achieved mechanical parity. Since this leaves one at the mercy of the "vagaries of vegetables", it becomes an odds game. All competitors had the same wind, though, and the Big 10 Inch rose to the occasion -- at the end of the first day we were in first place with a hurl of 3770 feet. It was not to hold and by the end of the second day we dropped to fifth. We will NOT, in the coming year, be like the football coach who plays for the "long bomb" and loses games because he didn't drill the less glamorous basics. We may have spent too much time, as seasoned competitors, worrying about refinements at the expense of basics. 2003 Distance shooting needs good ammo. After two years of drought we had one of drenching rains. Every year it seems is the year of the pumpkin, and other stuff. After having been awarded the second-place trophy for Adult Air Cannon, web-posted results gave us third in the new Championship Air category. In '04 the growing season and new changes may yield exceptional results. 2002 Team Photo Top row L to R: Verne Weidman, Merritt Tappan, John Piel Bottom row L to R: Ralph Eschborn, Pete Hill 2002 Back in Delaware for the World Championships we lead thru all three of our shots. On their final launch, "2nd Amendment" beat our 3816 foot toss by 65 feet. Competition is keen with these big guns. Just wait 'till next year. 2001 We took the show on the road in 2001, traveling to Morton, IL, for their Punkin Chunkin contest. The Big 10 Inch finished "in the money", placing 3rd behind the "Aludium Q36 Punkin Modulator" and "2nd Amendment". These teams hail from Illinois and Michigan respectively. Finishing third was a disappointment versus our expectations but a tribute to improvements by our competition. 2001 taught us it's dangerous to rest on your laurels, and spurred us on to make improvements for 2002. 2000 The Big 10 Inch launched several pumpkins over 4000 feet during 2000. Our best shot: The Big 10 Inch hurled a 10 lb. pumpkin a distance of 4111 feet (1.25 km), or about 4/5 of a mile, as accurately measured by a professional surveyor. This record shot exceeded our best performance of the previous year by 11%. It was the longest shot of any event held during the year, including the original World Championship Punkin Chunkin contest, which has been held every November in southern Delaware for the last 16 years. This event draws over 80 entrants from as far away as Illinois, Michigan, and Florida. The 2000 champion, Old Glory, won with a shot of 4086 feet, rivaling our record shot. Old Glory, along with Q36 and 2nd Amendment are the other members of the "4000 Foot Club". 1999 Team Photo L to R: Verne Weidman, Ralph Eschborn, Pete Hill, John Piel with 630 lb carved wood traveling trophy 1999 In our second year of competition, The Big 10 Inch was crowned 1999 Punkin Chunkin World Champions after hurling a 9.2 lb. pumpkin a distance of 3,695 feet, besting the second-place finisher, Q36, by 150 feet. Our winning toss exceeded our best rookie year mark by over 30%. We attribute our dramatic improvement from our 1998 rookie year to two things: * A 150% increase in the energy released by The Big 10 Inch as it propels a pumpkin down its 100-foot barrel, upping the output to roughly 1000 horsepower! * A pre-launch beer bath for the pumpkin. As with any sporting contest, it's the little things that count. Now that we have a streak going, we don't dare change this practice. (Of course, the team members consume a considerably larger amount than they use for bathing the pumpkins. This practice contributes to soaring spirits if not to soaring gourds.) Home \| Fun \| Pits \| Media \| History \| Links \| Team \| For Kids \| Sponsors
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