Deja Vu All Over Again - WCPC 2015 Cancelled.

[madmattd]

Fellow Chunkers,

With great disappointment, we are forced to cancel our 2015 event at Dover International Speedway. Despite the best efforts of our Board and of several insurance agents, and underwriters in a nationwide search over the past couple months, we are simply unable to locate a provider of necessary coverage to protect our host venue, and ourselves.

We're sure that you'll want to chat about this more, and help to forge a path forward. To that end, we'll have a special meeting at 6:30PM on October 17. We will confirm the location of that meeting with everyone soon, in a follow-up email.

I know that I speak for all of us in expressing our disappointment, but if our organization has shown anything in the last three decades, it's that we are resilient and that chunkers are determined to keep on chunkin, and we encourage everyone to attend, and participate in, the several licensed events that are happening throughout the country, while we explore our options for a path forward. We look forward to hearing any and all suggestions.



So that you are all aware, the below statement will be posted to our website and social media:

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the cancellation of the 2015 World Championship Punkin Chunkin event. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of our Board throughout an exhaustive, nation-wide search, we have been unable to locate a willing insurer to adequately protect our host venue, our organization, our fans and our spectators. We cannot be more thankful for the efforts of our volunteers, the best efforts of our agents and the patience of our teams, our fans, our prospective hosts at Dover International Speedway, our vendors, and our sponsors through this difficult time.



From our humble beginnings in Sussex County in 1986, we are proud to have grown our organization into a national phenomenon. Through our fans' and sponsors' support, we've donated over a million dollars to a variety of local, regional and national charities as well as funded dozens of scholarships. We're committed to the continuation of our sport and of our charitable work, and we are actively seeking alternatives as we move forward.



Customers who purchased tickets to attend the event will see the 100% refund on their credit cards within 7-14 business days. Any questions can be directed to 800-441-7223.



As Chunkers, we're hoping that everyone can see pumpkins fly this year. For a complete list of licensed events, please visit www.punkinchunkin.com

Thanks as always,
Ricky Nietubicz
President, WCPCA

I have nothing to say on this except what a mess the last 2 years have been. Cancelling less than 1 month out 2 years in a row is not going to be good for the Association moving forward. I (personally me) will be throwing my support behind other events, likely either the Ohio or NH ones. I'm not sure NASAW will be able to make a competition at all this year now

[KerikM]

Oh, crap.
I am sure sorry to hear this, and hope that you can find some sort of arrangement by autumn next year. I wonder if breaking it up into separate events, e.g., having the air cannons do their stuff on a different day, might help? When you have a huge long line of machines, the only place for the viewers is behind them, and that doesn't seem very safe to me, even with a high net. I don't have any quick fixes for the various logistic problems other than sympathy.
Here in Cascadia we have 2 events, in Snohomish and Burlington. The latter is hampered by a short and crooked field, but the former has more room...but some fine machines have disappeared, including a HCW treb almost as big as the original Yankee Siege, their people not being able to keep them going (various factors I am not sure of). Their fate is uncertain, and at Snohomish we had a short lineup indeed.
I'd hate to see this tradition die out. You sound like you are doing your best, and I repeat hopes that a solution will be found before we have to endure a 3rd national-event-less year.
Archfiend of Afterswing [owner/builder of 4 desktop trebs, of which one has a parking-lot range]

[madmattd]

KerikM: Who knows what will happen. I think a lot of people are done with the WCPCA and the nonsense. There are tons of competitions this year as can be seen in the pinned thread here. It very well may be that there will never be a giant event again. I tend to think there can be if the leadership was actually willing to move out of Delaware. Time will tell.

Our team rearranged our schedules and will be taking NASAW to the New Hampshire chunk to throw for distance, and have some fun. We have less than 2 weeks to get ready, haven't tuned for distance in 2 years. It should be a blast though!

[KerikM]

A lack of giant events does not bother me so much, but I want to see the giant machines get to do their stuff in a place big enough for them, and safe for people. Good luck with NASAW, and everybody out there take pictures and vids, and note all the distance stats in case somebody sets a record.
More regional contests, with smaller casts of characters, that does seem like the way to go. Regional associations linked together under some national structure, or the national one parted out into regional branches, maybe? The charity aspect could be made to work under these circumstances, I suspect, and so would the historical/scientific work of seeing who is out front this year and why, and what can be done in the future. You--we--who build something new are advancing the technology, going where no one has gone before, making history. And that is so neat. And it's the only way we could ever possibly get a chance to catch up distance-wise with the leaf blowers.
Keep the fire burning.

[madmattd]

I will try to get a full list of distances once all the events are done, but Colossal Thunder (trebuchet, was in the youth division in 2013 but has since moved up) did throw 3297' at the Colorado Chunk this past weekend. First >3000' trebuchet! Granted the high elevation helped a lot, but still! They will be at the Oklahoma chunk this weekend, perhaps they will do well at a lower elevation now? Big 10 Inch (hairdryer) hit 4700' at the same CO event. Smokin Lamas (human-power centrifugal) hit almost 2400' at the Pocono Chunk Saturday as well. Yeahaw, great to see people shooting for distance again!

[KerikM]

Congratulations, Colossal Thunder and the people thereof! Refresh my memory if you can, what kind of treb is it? And what was the elevation?

[Thomas]

Colossal Thunder is a big whipper, steel-framed and mounted on wheels. One feature is that the frame uprights are extended well above axle height and each contains a mechanism for raising the CW. And the CW is split, one half on either side of the arm. That way if there's a misfire the likelihood that the CW will bash the arm or vice versa is mostly eliminated. Overall a well-thought-out design.

[KerikM]

I did what I should have before and confirmed my memory that it is a coulliard whipper. I sure would like to know some more details about it--pix googled weren't big on details. Also wonder just how much the thinner air would help distance?

[madmattd]

The thinner air at 5000' helps a lot on distance. Just look at Big 10 Inch who shot about 400 feet further (almost 4800', I was wrong above) there than they've ever shot in DE. My guess is Colossal Thunder's 3297' at sea level would have been right around 3K, give or take 50-100 feet either side.

The below pics are from the 2013 WCPC, it looks like they have since re-arranged their pumpkin box to be pushed well off the arm, allowing for a longer sling as it gives the pumpkin a "head-start" on the arm.


Colossal Thunder, Nov. 2013


CW-main axle linkage on Colossal Thunder, Nov. 2013


Colossal Thunder pumpkin box, Nov. 2013. Since pushed way off the arm on an extension for 2015.

I can't find a 2015 video on Youtube, but if you have a Facebook account, check out the NTC Afton Welding page.

I'll try to link this video here, should work without an account: Colossal Thunder 3297' Slo-Mo

[KerikM]

I am afacebookual and illtwitterate, but thanks bigtime for the photos and links. It's so amazing to see something that big move too fast to see... Now, there is something maybe someone here can help me understand. 3 whippers I've seen pix/vids of--Colossal Thunder, Pumpkin Hammer, NASAW and come to think of it a smaller copy of NASAW--all have the 3rd point of the scalene triangle that forms the arm, sticking way out back beyond the axle. Why this conformation? Does it make the arm stronger than if it was, say, a right triangle with the right angle at the axle? I couldn't see that anything was attached to that protrusion. Can someone who knows whippers enlighten me here?