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WORLD CHAMPION

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2012: Come From Behind – 3^rd Place!!!

By Jim Riley

November 4, 2012 - Bridgeville, DE.

Hello, my name is Jim R and I am a Punkin Chunker…

More precisely, I am a proud member of Team PumpkinHammer, the world’s largest Whipper Trebuchet.

My father always told me that you should associate yourself with great people, as some of their greatness may rub off on you. I am extremely fortunate to participate on a team and in a sport that has some pretty great people.

I’d like to tell you some stories about them.

Team PumpkinHammer
When we refer to PumpkinHammer, we always lead with the word – “Team”. Each person on this team contributes immensely to our success. I’d like to tell you about the following men who I am extremely proud to call my teammates.

Rich Foley – What else can I say about Rich... He is one of the most honest and down-to-earth people I have ever met in my life. Since retirement, he lives, eats, and breathes Punkin Chunkin. He is quite a remarkable person and I’m proud to call him my friend.

Tim Foley – Rich’s younger brother. Out of all of our teammates, Tim is the most emotionally associated with the success or failure of PumpkinHammer. This man cares deeply about the team and really loves Punkin Chunkin.

Dave Hanna – We kid Dave about being a superior human, as he is 6’4”, 250 lbs, and really, really smart. But let me tell you a story about Dave which should really tell you how he is truly a great man. A young boy came up to our machine and had a few questions. Dave eagerly volunteered and spent about 30 minutes answering every question asked. He didn’t need to do this, nor was he asked; he just did it. Kudos Dave!!!

Eric Jordan – Big E is a mountain of a man. Unfortunately, he could not make this year’s chunk. However, Eric wanted updates by the minute on Facebook. He is a great teammate and a very good man.

Don Hylinski – The team’s wild man. Don is without question the heart and soul of PumpkinHammer. This man embodies the word TEAM. This guy never sits, as he’s always working or doing something. The bottom line is, Don is funny as hell and a great friend.

Jon Mault – The man with the “Speech” that saved PumpkinHammer. If it were not for John, this team probably would not have competed in 2012. Sadly, John could not be at the Chunk this year.

John Collett – This is the man!!! He is the ultimate man of positivity. The word “No” is not in this guy’s vocabulary. He and his group of very talented fabricators at Collett and Sons built the newest version of PumpkinHammer. We are extremely lucky to have this man on our team.

Mark Hudson – It’s rare when you get a new member to make an immediate contribution to any team. Mark is that rare exception. Out of the gate, Mark first built the famous and very convenient PumpkinHammer Pod. He then took over as the team’s primary climber. Rookie of the year honors go to this man!!!

The Great PumpkinHammer Support Crew
With every great team, there needs to be a great support crew. PumpkinHammer has the best in PunkinChunkin.

First, we need to praise our significant others, who have to put up with our time working on PumpkinHammer. Liz, Sue, Susan, Heather, Fran, and Lynn – Thank you!!! Not only do we have the most understanding partners, we have the most beautiful ladies on the field!!!

Cara and Jeff Christensen – What can you say about people who give up their weekend to support a group of Punkin Chunkers. I call them two of the nicest people in the world.

To all our other family and friends, from the Hanna’s, Jenny and Martin, Tracey Wiley, and Barry and Yvette – Thank you for your support!!!

We also want to thank Don Hylinski's daughter Heather for PumpkinHammer Beer mugs, which was a major surprise for the team. Also special note should go out to Fran Hylinski, who presented the team with an unexpected treasure - Our very own Team PumpkinHammer Flag.  Fran and Heather on behalf of the team, thank you both so much for providing us with these wonderful gifts.

As you can see, our team is so very fortunate.

Great Champions
During our time in Punkin Chunkin, there have been two great champions in the Trebuchet division.

The first was Chris Gerow and his legendary King Arthur. Chris was supported by Harry, the Peters, and Dave. This team was the five time champion of our division. What made them great was their creativity and their willingness to share their knowledge. They took this tiny little contraption that could throw farther than everyone else. They also had a cocky flair that made them fun to be around.

Next came six time champions, Steve and Kathy Seigars, and the most famous trebuchet in America – Yankee Siege. Their machine was just brute force, but that didn’t stop him from learning more about Trebuchets than anyone else in the world. What makes the Siegars great is that they are the friendliest people in the world. If anyone on the Trebuchet has a problem, they are the first to assist them. In my book, they are great people!!!

Great People...
So what do you need to be a Punkin Chunker? From what I can tell, they are all very bright, honest, caring and friendly people. The following is just a small sampling of the people we have met over the years, and my thoughts of each.

Tired iron
Chuck and team are great. Chuck has one of the most iconic machines at Punkin Chunkin. Chuck and Ben will be among the first people who will ask if we need anything.

First in Fright / Whomping Willow
Trey and his machine are awesome. However, the younger generation of team Whomping Willow should make all of us adults tremble when they move up next year… 

American Chucker
Ohio’s finest is represented here. This is a fun group and likes to have multiple support vehicles… J

Shenanigans
Tom and team are really nice people. On the last day they had an amazing shot 1,567 feet.

NASAW
These guys have a nice machine that can throw pretty darn well.  

Launchness Monster 
What do you say about a team that builds a Trebuchet that looks like a collapsing house. You call them Punkin Chunkers. A great group of Chunkers who offered us help after our winch line broke.

Team Chucky
These are my Jersey Brothers and may be the most popular team at Chunkin!!!  

Others
We met some great young competitors this year. J.T., Josh,

Sharp Entertainment
To the all the film crew (Amelia, Lindsay, Kim, John and crew) - You guys were so nice. It was a pleasure!!!

2012 Results
Below are the results of the 2012 Adult Trebuchet division. As you can see, all the trebuchets were far short of the world record.

Development
After last year’s chunk, the team committed to rebuilding a brand new PumpkinHammer. We knew that we could not continue to Clang and Bang our way to the championship, so we decided to go in a completely different direction, but without getting away from the Whipper design.

Our Design team of Rich and Tim did a great job of developing an interesting concept. But to make it a reality, the team was fortunate enough to bring on John Collett. His experience and talented group of fabricators built an amazing super structure.

Special kudos go out to team member Don Hylinski, who spent countless hours painting the giant whipper. Don also got his daughter Heather into the act, by having her use her amazing artistic ability to place our logo’s on the machine. Heather did an AMAZING job on the logo.

Testing
In early October, we had our first test throws. The first throw went very high up, and the next went straight into the ground. We really struggled with testing on this new machine. However, one throw went really high and really far. All of us lost the pumpkin as it hit the apex of the climb. We never knew how far it shot, but we knew we had something.

One thing we did learn, was that John Collett could never go out into the field as we shot, because each time he did, we’d misfire.

We really struggled with forces that we had never come across. First, the arm moved so fast, that the pumpkin was moving out of the pumpkin holder on the arm. We had to build a release mechanism, which performed fairly well. We also had major problems with our winch cables, they kept on breaking. This came back to haunt us at the chunk.

"The PumpkinHammer curse..."
As many of you know, our team has been plagued with an annual event, called the curse. Every year that we have participated in the WCPC, we have had a catastrophic failure. We have bent, broke, twisted, torn, or split something either within a week of the event or at the event.

This has been so engrained into the PumpkinHammer mindset, that we just take it for granted that we will break something along the way.  Keep this in mind as I continue with the story…

Thursday arrival and setup
Due to Hurricane Sandy, the Association allowed teams to bring their machines to the fields on the Saturday before the Chunk. We followed their advice and loaded PumpkinHammer onto Collett and Son’s big Rig.

We arrived in Bridgeville on Thursday morning to set up the machine. The fields were surprisingly dry, considering that we just had a hurricane. We were not allowed to get out our machine until the afternoon.

The beauty of the new Hammer is the set up. It takes a push from our hydraulic lift, and we have a 30 foot tower raised. In the old days, it would take us 8 to 12 hours to set up the wooden PumpkinHammer. How smart we old guys became…

Day 1 Throw 1 – PumpkinHammer: Is the Curse Back?
The Trebuchet line was throwing early, but we were just not ready. First, we had a knot in our sling line. Well let me change that, we had several tightly intertwined knots in our slings, which wouldn’t come out. Mark and Tim struggled as we were on the clock, with relative little time left, they untangled the line. We then began our counterweight lift, but all of a sudden, the winch line broke. Could the curse be back? Throw one – 0!!!

In the first round, Tired Iron threw 1,589. Launchness Monster was in 2nd place with a throw of 1,534, and Great Gourd was next with a throw of 1,179. 
 

Day 1 Throw 2 – PumpkinHammer: The cruse be still with us...
On our second throw, we were finally prepared. We changed the winch line and it worked well. We shot, but our finger angle was off and we shot a line drive that landed only 255 feet away.  

After the second throw, NASAW was in first with a throw of 2,086 feet. In second place was Yankee Siege II, with a 1,980 foot throw. First in Fright was in third with a throw of 1,681. Please note: In this humble Chunkers opinion, Yankee Siege had the best throw of the day. I don’t think the spotters found where YSII’s throw went. I think it surpassed NASAW’s throw and so did a lot of other people.

The hammer team worked furiously to get off some test throws. We finally got out a great throw into the fading sunlight. We were ready for a good throw then next day.

Day 2 Throw 3 – PumpkinHammer: Comes from behind to Third
On the last day, the hammer changed our finger angle to 59 degrees. We were ready to break the world record.

As we got on line, all we wanted to do was get off a good throw. We gathered the team together and tried a De-cursing chant.

When we pulled the trigger, we all went nuts because this went really high and far. We thought it was really out there and so did the crowd. I also want to personally apologize to Grant from MythBusters, as I was afraid I squished him in a bear hug.

Most of the team lost our voices as we were screaming in joy. After they measured, we only threw 1,722 feet, but it was good enough for third place. 

More controversy… On Yankee Siege II’s last throw, the spotters again could not find it. It was a monster throw and should have been enough to take the lead. They were allowed to throw another, but they did not have a pumpkin at the right weight and it was well short. I place the final results above.

From the team’s perspective, I can tell you that even though we didn’t win, this was one of the best time’s I’ve been associated with this team. We overcame and finished third. It was a great accomplishment and I could not have been prouder of my teammates.

For next year, we have proven that we have a super structure that will allow us to throw and throw. We will add counterweight, test and tinker. Watch out Trebuchet Division. PumpkinHammer will be back with a vengeance next year.