When building a coffin, one normally does not have to account for aerodynamics and speed. However, for Brent Brown, how fast the six-foot-long coffin he has been crafting can travel is the crux of the challenge.
“I’ve been in the machine career for 10 years, and also do fabrication and design work,” Brown said. “My other hobbies are race cars and dirt bikes, so I used my knowledge to build the best coffin I could. It was a fun process of designing it. I’m pretty confident in my design and the engineering behind it.”
Brown is a member of the Criminally Insane Haunted House team, one of the 11 teams competing at 1 p.m. Saturday in Crown Point’s first-ever Coffin Cup, a race involving crafted coffins on wheels in a straight-line 100-yard dash. The start line will be at the historic Lake County Courthouse, with racers traveling south on Main Street. The race will start right after the Pumpkin Walk in the Crown Point square, which is 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
Pastor Mark Wilkins, of First United Methodist Church of Crown Point, described the coffin racing idea as a “harebrained scheme” he and some friends came up with and approached city leaders about. He said coffin racing has been spreading in towns across the U.S. as a new fall tradition.
Wilkins said this year presents some “stiff competition.”
“I see this as something that has the potential in a lot of ways to be able to grow,” Wilkins said. “The response from the city is that it’s just bizarre enough that it really catches people’s attention. And it’s fun when you explain it, because you see people kind of look puzzled, then it kind of hits, and they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s funny.’”
The event is a collaboration between the city of Crown Point and the First United Methodist Church to raise money for charity. There is no registration fee, but each team must represent a registered non-profit organization or choose a non-profit organization to race for. The winning team will be granted $2,500 toward their charity of choice, and the winner of the Spirited Award for best theme and costumes will get $500 to donate to a charity.
The church’s team theme is “Dead Heads,” centering on the renowned band the Grateful Dead, with ’60s-style flowers and peace sign decorations. The team costumes will be tie-dye outfits and ’60s fashion. If they win, the prize money will go toward the church’s youth group missions project.
The eleven competitors include First United Methodist Church, Geisens Funeral Home, The Old Sheriff’s House Foundation Criminally Insane team, The Community Help Network, Dean & Barbara White Southlake YMCA, Tavern on Main, Off Square Brewing, Team McDowell, Club Pilates, the city of Crown Point and the Crown Point PACE Department. Burns Funeral Home & Crematory, Geisen-Pruzin Funeral & Cremation Services, Centier Bank and Legacy Environmental Services were among the top sponsors of the event.
Each team is tasked with building a coffin on wheels that can hold one “ghost rider” inside. The coffin will be pushed by two team members on each side, with each team having one alternate “pusher” to jump in if needed. Racers will go head-to-head two teams at a time, with the top two fastest teams competing in the final race.
The team of Criminally Insane Haunted House volunteers will be in full costume from their Halloween attraction at the Old Sheriff’s House & Jail at 226 S. Main St. If they win, the money will go back toward the Old Sheriff’s House & Jail Foundation.
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“I think it’s an amazing idea,” said Sandy Boyd, ringmaster of the Criminally Insane Haunted House. “It’s the city and Pastor Mark who came up with it, and I think basing it on the historic Cobe Cup is great, which is why it’s the Coffin Cup. I think that is the funnest thing.”
The Cobe Cup started in 1909 as a 23-mile race course spanning county roads and town streets of Crown Point, Lowell and Cedar Lake.
The Criminally Insane coffin is made of thin wood and the wheel cart is aluminum, making for a lightweight design. In his career, Brown has done modifications on race cars and motorbikes, but this was his first time he was tasked to make a raceable coffin.
“In this case, aerodynamics are out the window because it’s a square box, so the wheels are what I paid the most attention to,” Brown said. “Having smooth wheels and no issues with alignment was the main part of the process.”
Brown crafted it over the course of 40 hours in the fabrication shop he works at, occasionally borrowing his colleagues for test runs. The coffin is painted bright green and black, to represent the logo colors for the haunted house.
Operation Charlie Bravo, a veteran-focused organization, created three steerable frames with wheels paid for by sponsors and given to the first three teams to register.
“I’ve never made anything like this before. This project is very unique and I love making innovative, different, fun things to do,” said Jason Zaideman, executive director and founder of Operation Charlie Bravo. “This gets the community involved; it’s fun and different. I’m very excited to be able to be a part of it.”
Zaideman said the steel-tube frame is six feet long and 30 inches wide with wheels welded to the bottom. There are arms on each side of the frame, like a bobsled, to be pushed by teammates.
“These will last 10 to 15 years; they’re built to last,” Zaideman said. “I hope to keep adding more frames each year. We’ve started at a certain point, and will let it grow from there. We may build three or four more for next year.”
Jean Lauhm, Geisen Funeral Home community relations director, is on the Coffin Cup committee. Her husband, a carpenter, crafted the racing coffin for Geisen Funeral Home and Lauhm painted it in the style of the Tim Burton movie Corpse Bride.
The Geisen funeral director, who will be the coffin’s ghost rider, will be dressed as the Corpse Bride, and the four runners will be all dressed as the groom, Victor.
“Our charity of choice is Golden Hope Ministries,” Lauhm said. “They provide grief counseling for children and teens. They’re in Cedar Lake and there’s definitely a very strong need for grief counseling for children and teens, so we are so grateful to them for coming into the community and providing an immense need.”
The city of Crown Point and Crown Point’s PACE Department each have teams that will race on Saturday. City officials said this race will be the first of many.
“We are always looking for new, unique ways to draw people to our historic downtown square. The Pumpkin Walk is already such a big seasonal draw, so we decided to expand the event by partnering with First United Methodist Church,” said Crown Point PACE Director Adam Graper. “We’re excited to see the community response and hope to make this an annual event.”
For more information on the race, visit crownpointcoffinrace.com.
Anna Ortiz is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.