In an event being billed as the “Truck vs. Pumpkin,” duel, Half Moon Bay’s winning pumpkin will face off in an epic battle against the “Gravedigger” monster truck.
“It’s on,” said champion-grower Don Young of Des Moines, Iowa. “I’m hoping to bend a rim on that monster truck.”
 Don Young's Weigh-off-winning pumpkin attracted the attention of television producers. Young and the pumpkin are scheduled to appear on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien television show later this week. |
Any of those ideas were fine with Young. In the days after winning the Half Moon Bay weigh-off and showcasing his pumpkin at the city’s Art & Pumpkin Festival, Young agreed to give his mighty white pumpkin to the Conan O’Brien show. He said they could do what they liked with it.
“I didn’t plan on bringing it back to Iowa anyway,” he said. “So I gave it to them as soon as the pumpkin festival was over.”
Young says he didn’t take any money for the pumpkin. All he expected was to receive compensation to travel out to Los Angeles for the show, and the chance for a little more glory.
But until Tuesday afternoon, Young was getting increasingly frustrated with the show because producers wouldn’t commit to any plan, or tell Young whether he would be on the show. Young says his main concern is the valuable seeds still inside his giant pumpkin. He wanted to use those pumpkin seeds to grow next year’s stable of his giant pumpkin contenders.
“Those seeds mean a lot to me. I have four years of work in there,” he said. “For all I know the janitor might be sweeping them up after the show.”
Young says he’ll perform some surgery on his pumpkin and remove the seeds inside before his champ faces Gravedigger.
Being on national television isn’t new to Young. In 2007, Young’s 1,662-pound pumpkin — his personal best — was towed into Times Square in New York City to be shown on ABC’s “Good Morning America”.
But he’s never had his pumpkin square off against any truck except his own.
“I know my pumpkins can mess up the wheels on my own truck,” he said. “I bet the driver’s thinking my pumpkin’s some big soft thing.”
Late Night with Conan O’Brien airs on NBC at 11:35 p.m. Friday.
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