jackass archive – slingshot pond, a/k/a the original idiot launch
Shit, this bit might as well have been the music video to TLC’s “Don’t Go Chasin’ Waterfalls.” While in West Chester, PA, on our first official filming mission, Jeff Tremaine got the wild hair up his ass to create a human slingshot and send a 180-pound mammal named Ryan Dunn zinging through the air.
This 110-percent Warner Bros. fantasy probably would’ve worked, too, provided we had a NASA scientist working alongside us. However, all we had was this dude Trip Taylor, who drinks more than seven cups of coffee a day. What I’m trying to say in a rather belabored manner here is that we would’ve been better off hiring a speed freak, because the resulting contraption looked exactly like it was assembled by a junkie who was hopped up and slumming the aisles of Home Depot at four in the morning. I have to give Trip credit, though, because not everyone could create a homemade “Robby the Robot” replica using duct tape, zip-ties, plastic tubing and a grip of bicycle tire inner tubes in under four hours starting at midnight.
Anyway, so Trip created this damned monstrosity, and we spent the better part of the next day trying to find two trees near a pond where we could rig the “slingshot” up with C-clamps. When we finally did find a suitable location, we were kicked out by some jerk waving a badge around like it’s the latest edition of the Ten Commandments (apparently we couldn’t read the non-existent property signs). Our next pond, which was located deep in the back forty of Arasapha Farms, was a stagnant, black pool of water carpeted in a thick layer of green algae. In other words, perfect! The only problem was a thicket of brambles, thorns, and branches blocking the runway. So Trip started hacking away at it with a little pocketknife up until someone finally wised up and suggested we borrow an electric saw from the property owner.
Three hours, fifty scratches, and six hundred and sixty-six insect bites later, the slingshot was ready to fling. Well, not really. Ryan practically had to jump in the water by himself.
What idiots.
