Walker wrote:The 2014 World Championship of Punkin' Chunkin" has officially been
cancelled.
I am unable as yet to find a reason for their decision but there is some talk about some volunteer decision regarding the down range chasers being unsafe in the way they handle their 4-wheelers. Does that make sense to anyone?
The rumor is that all WCPC/PCA dues will be refunded.
That does not account for all the tickets, pit passes, team registrations, vender fees, whatever & etc.
These boys are in a heap of trouble.
As for me, I'm aligning myself with the Texas State Chunk which plans to launch sometime in Spring 2015.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/320785618034475/Good chunking and may God bless.
Pit Passes
ARE WCPCA dues and are being refunded to those that ask (and you lose the ability to vote for 2015, which for those that can't make the meetings and aren't captains, isn't a loss).
Team registrations are also being refunded upon request, but those teams are then not going to be considered as "renewals" for next year, but must sign up with the new team system that typically begins on June 1. I have mixed feelings on that decision and hope that the board addresses this.
All spectator tickets are/already have been refunded. The bigger issue is that many are still on the hook for non-refundable airfare tickets (or at least are out the insane cancellation fees), now have time off from work that they cannot change around, etc etc. The last-minute cancellation wasn't the best move by the WCPCA, especially when so many teams expected this decision at least a month or two earlier. Lately things seemed to be getting in place, but apparently that was at least partly a fake facade as well.
As for the decision to cancel, we are waiting for a more complete story from the WCPCA, but it boiled down to a lack of time to move the massive event to a new site with far more regulation in a very short time frame. The reason we had to move had to do with the Dan Fair (head spotter) accident a couple years ago, as he filed a lawsuit against the WCPCA and the landowner, and thus the landowner had to ask us to not come back. He may still lose his farm from this incident, which is not right. Finding a new field in Delaware, which does not have a state law putting a cap on liability, is now very hard as no landowner wants to risk being sued. Dover Speedway was an answer, though it meant that the event had to be split up, which already wasn't going over well with many teams and most spectators. The ultimate answer may be to move the event out of Delaware and to a state that protects landowners, but apparently they wanted to still try to keep the event in Delaware (understandably, but it appears to be no longer practical). What happens next will be very critical to the future of the WCPCA.