When it comes to chucking pumpkins, nobody does it better than Captain Speed.
Relying on nine years of practice and an air-pressured cannon, the leader of the Mellow Yellow team on Sunday launched a pumpkin more than 2,655 feet over a soy bean field - promptly smashing the gourd and a world record."I finally made it," said Speed, a.k.a. Harry Lackhove.
Delaware's Punkin' Chuckin' contest began 10 years ago as a friendly challenge among friends to see who could hurl leftover Halloween pumpkins the farthest.
The contest has evolved over the years into a serious competitive sport involving everything from slingshots and garage door springs to centrifugal force contraptions, cannons and compressed air.
More than 30,000 spectators paid $5 each to watch the weekend event.
In the non-motorized division, James Durnan won with a hurl of 526 feet. He used a catapult device with springs to edge out his nearest competition, a team of former University of Delaware engineering students who call themselves the "Blue Hen Hurlers."
Lackhove's record surpassed the old record set in 1994 by more than 100 feet. For his triumph, The Mellow Yellow team won $2,500.