Toilet Tossing

Toilet Tossin´

Story and Photographs by Bob & Cindy Savage

Publication Date: August 1998

First It Was Punkin Chunkin´ Now It's Toilet Tossin´

These boys definitely have too much time on their hands!

In the December 1996 edition of Extremz Magazine, readers were given their first glimpse of the wild and crazy world of Punkin Chunkin´. An event that until a few years back was unique to Lower Delaware's Sussex County. As the popularity of the event continued to grow, teams from other states joined in, and soon other events were being organized. The November 1997 issue of Extremz covered the Punkin Chunkin´ event held in Morton, Illinois, while the December 1997 issue again covered the World Championship held outside Milton, Delaware.

In the December 1996 article, readers were introduced to Captain "Speed" Lackhove, then the president of the Punkin Chunkin´ Association, and the winner of the 1997 World Championship with his World Record toss of 2,117 feet. Captain Speed and his roving band of punkin malcontents were described as "watermen who had either been out to sea too long, or have been on shore too long." This year, Captain Speed announced his retirement from Punkin Chunkin´, but remained active with the chunkers. After going five months without chunkin´ anything, Captain Speed felt that enough was enough and announced it was time to chunk something. The question was, what were they going to chunk? Again, Captain Speed's diabolical mind came up with another brainstorm Toilet'sthose porcelain fixtures known to folks around the world. With that, the First Annual Toilet Toss was scheduled at the Riverside Park on the northern end of Lewes, Delaware.

On the day of the event, four teams and 45 spectators arrived at the park to watch. The teams that competed in the first annual event included Captain Speed's "Sweet Chariot," a combination lift truck and forklift operation, where the toilet swung from a rope that was suspended from the lift truck; and Frank Payne's "Give Us Liberty or Give Us Distance," a wooden trebuchet. The only machine that was present that was recognizable as a punkin chunker was Jim Durnam's "Gene's Machine," two time world champion, human powered chunker and the 1997 Unlimited Class winner. During this event, Jim Broadhurst acted as captain and team. The other machines were built by some of the original chunkers; such as Chuck Burton, who oversaw the operation of his son's team "The Green Apple Splatters," a slingshot-style machine that looked like a sliding board with heavy rubber tubing slingshots attached to the top.

Captain Speed's "Chariot" was the first machine to toss and start the competition. For the next five minutes, Speed held the World Record toilet toss with a distance of 29 feet even. The record only lasted five minutes because Payne's "Liberty or Distance" first toss ended up going 104 feet. This record distance held when Burton's "Apple Splatters" toss landed 71 feet 2 inches, however, the record was then broken when "Gene's Machine" successfully tossed its porcelain fixture 204 feet.

After the first round of tosses, Murphy's Law took over for the rest of the day. Before Apple Splatters could fire again, one of the rubber tubings broke on the right side of the machine. To equalize the power of the machine, a tube was taken from the left side. Because of this, their next toss was for 98 feet. However, there was some question about the accuracy of the measurement, given that there was approximately 25 feet of measuring tape coiled on the ground near the start of the measuring distance. Payne's "Liberty or Distance" for his second toss was 198 feet, outdistancing his first shot by 94 feet. However, Payne's third shot went a minus 35 feet, when the weights on the trebuchet fell off and the toilet flew backwards away from the machine.

"Gene's Machine" joined in the breakdowns when one of its massive springs broke and the machine was unable to beat its first distance. It didn't matter, however, as the record distance of 204 feet was not topped that day and Broadhurst, with "Gene's Machine" went home the winner of the First Annual Toilet Toss.

Talking with some of the other teams at the end of the day, it was clear that they haven't had enough yet. Plans are now to see how many teams can go to Morton, Illinois in September to compete in their chunkin´ event. Then it's on to Busti, Pennsylvania to compete in early October, and to Canton, Ohio towards the end of October - all to promote Punkin Chunkin´ and invite the competitors back to Delaware for the World Championship in November. As in the past, Extremz Magazine plans on being to as many events as possible.

For more information about the World Championship Punkin Chunkin´, The Annual Toilet Toss, or any of the upcoming chunkin events, you can call (302)856-1444 or check out their website at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/8558/.