Whole Lotta Redneck Fun

October 23, 2008

Every year at the Altamont Raceway Park, the season culminates with the Pumpkin Smash event.  Fans arrive to the track and there are pumpkins all over it.  What for, you ask?  So that way the fans can come down and smash them onto the track - and then a truck will come by with soapy water and then what--there's a race!  Or is it a demolition derby?  Or both?

I had never heard of this event, but evidently it is an annual event for my gent friend and his family.  I thought it was pretty funny - they invited whoever wanted to come down and help smash the pumpkins up.  That was fun for the whole family...and then the truck came out and got things even more slippery by spraying soapy water all over the surface - and then out came the race cars.

Cars in various stages of destruction prior to the event started rolling, and then the race was on--let the sliding begin.  Cars spun out, hit each other, stalled - and it was a wonder that some of them were running at all.

It was quite a trip - 300 laps of it.  They had a break and then brought out the water truck again and track officials spread some more pumpkins around as things had dried out.  I can see this will become an annual event for me too...admittedly.

Photos