IN 1986, some crazy peo ple began a tradition in a tiny town in Delaware that involved catapulting pumpkins (hereafter known as “punkins”) in a giant field.
Now, 23 years since that first punkin went flying through the air, the activity has become an obsession with thousands of backyard engineers who work as many as 60 hours a week all year long, building bigger, badder, crazier punkin-launching contraptions.
All of that work culminates each November in a “World Championship Punkin Chunkin” competition. No small-change affair, this competition now attracts thousands of people and more than 100 teams of punkin chunkers who bring their “A” games, as well as their gigantic contraptions, in the hopes of projecting their punkins faster, farther and deeper into that field of dreams.
Tonight, Science Channel presents two hours of non-stop punkin chunkin, which is just what you need after three hours of non-stop turkey chompin’.
For the virgin chunkers among you, first, at 8 p.m., there’s “Road To Punkin Chunkin,” an hour-long documentary that follows some of the punkin loons from as far away from Delaware and Colorado as they engineer and build their machines. Then, at 9 p.m., there’s “Punkin Chunkin 2009,” which takes you to the actual competition. Watching the first show definitely makes watching the second show a much better experience, because you’ll get to see how much real blood, sweat, tears and teamwork go into building the machines. And you’ll know who you want to root for.
OK, fine, but why in hell would Science Channel bother with such a crazy sport?
Good question with a logical answer. Turns out that building contraptions for the sole purpose of shooting pumpkins (which admittedly has a very short season!) takes a real knowledge of science.
The gigantic machines range from medieval (catapults and trebuchets) to the modern (air cannons that shoot punkins from 1,000-gallon propane tanks). The fact that only pumpkins and no innocent bystanders get blown away is almost as astounding as the science behind these machines.
Hosts Zach Selwyn and Mike Senese, who look like twins who could be chunkers themselves, take us through the science of each type of machine. Who knew, for example, what a trebuchet even was, let alone that it’s a machine that was used in medieval warfare and works like a giant deadly see-saw.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself — not nearly as much as the crazy chunkers, of course, but hey, it beats watching yet another football game Thanksgiving night.