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Nathan Kirkman
�You wouldn�t believe how fast those pumpkins shoot out of there — about 600 miles per hour,� says Steve Young, a member of the Aludium Q36 Pumpkin Modulator team. A pumpkin modulator, you ask? Indeed, the Q36 — an 18-ton, 100-foot air cannon that doesn�t modulate anything — has launched dozens of orange gourds, one sailing as far as 4,491 feet, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Now the team has set its sights on the mile mark. In August, at a party in Morton, Illinois, the Q36 team rolled out the cannon and sent pumpkins flying into the surrounding cropland. The event was a trial run for the annual World Championship Punkin Chunkin, staged this November in the seaside town of Millsboro, Delaware. It was at the Chunkin in 1996 that the team won its first contest. �We�ve done a lot of R&D since then,� says Young. �But really it�s about finding a good pumpkin.�
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| Smashing Pumpkins
