The folks in Delaware take their pumpkin smashing seriously.
The annual Punkin' Chunkin' contests were held over the weekend, with a group from Morton, Ill., using a huge air cannon to fire a surplus pumpkin a record 4,026 feet. The Aludium Q36 Pumpkin Modulator - inspired by the Martian character in Bugs Bunny cartoons - easily won the pneumatic category Sunday. There are also human-powered and centrifugal entries.The field included an all-women team called "Bad Hair Day," with a machine powered by two septic tank compressor trucks. Another entry, built by a University of Massachusetts engineering student, used liquid nitrogen and boiling water.
"I retrofitted it to come down here," said Randy Kezar, 23, who had built the cannon to shoot honeydew.
Another team featured a 20-year-old welder who worked up a sweat riding a bike attached to a compressor. His pumpkin flew 782 feet.