The Manhattan Beach Pumpkin Race Rulebook Started With a Tonka Truck
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
In 1990, Karl Rogers was turning 28 and wanted something other than a costume party. Easy Reader reported in its account of the race's origin that he saw his skateboard sitting next to the pumpkins on his porch, put a pumpkin on the board and rolled it down Longfellow Avenue. "It went really fast, but it was boring," he told the paper. So he gave the pumpkin wheels of its own, his guests decorated it, and he sent out a press release on a whim. A news van actually came.
Thirty-six years on, the City's rulebook for the World Famous Pumpkin Race names the skateboard as banned equipment. It also names the Tonka truck. Both bans have a history, and that history explains why a race that thousands of people come out for still turns on a decorated gourd and a hill. The 36th race runs Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, on Manhattan Beach Boulevard by the Pier.
According to that Easy Reader account, about 30 or 40 people came to the second race. Michael Aaker, a friend who had been at the first one, showed up dressed as a referee. Then a pumpkin arrived looking like a stealth plane. It had wings, it was painted black, and it "went straight and fast," Rogers said. It was also sitting on a Tonka truck.
"We said: 'Okay, first rule: You can't do that,'" Rogers told the paper.
The same year gave the race its anti-stealth rule and its cheater pumpkin tradition. Over time, the threat of the mallet didn't stop everyone. Rogers recalled that entrants started building pumpkins designed to get caught, and that one smashed pumpkin spilled candy like a piñata. Kids took to shouting "Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater," and the organizers wrote a Pumpkin Racer Pledge for entrants to recite before racing.
"If everyone decides to play fair, it's more fun than if someone cheats and wins," Rogers said.
The current rulebook follows that thinking. The City says its rules exist "to promote fair play and inspire good old-fashioned American ingenuity." In practice, the rules allow just enough ingenuity to get a pumpkin rolling straight.
Here's how the 2026 rules on the City's Pumpkin Race page limit a build:
| Rule | What it rules out |
|---|---|
| One pumpkin per racer | Stacked or combined builds |
| Two independent axles through the pumpkin, with the wheels attached to the axles | A pumpkin riding on top of a vehicle |
| No prefabricated chassis of any kind, with skateboard, stroller and Tonka truck named | The 1990 porch experiment and the second-year stealth racer |
| Axles may not connect to each other, and no tension rods or welded rods | A homemade frame that does a chassis's job |
| Plastic zip ties are the only allowed axle support | Everything stronger |
| Wheels no larger than 12 inches across | Big wheels, which can race solo for time if it's safe and time permits, but can't win a trophy |
| Axles no longer than 18 inches | Extra-wide stances |
| No bumper or protective cage | Armor against collisions |
| No sharp objects, explosives or pyrotechnics | Rocket assist |
The cage ban matters most once racing starts. MB News reported after the 2025 race that collisions are common, and that a super-fast pumpkin "sometimes gets taken out by a rogue pumpkin running diagonally across the course." Many heats end with wheels and loose decorations all over the boulevard. The paper's conclusion was that the winners are "largely random." Ban the protective cage and the prefab chassis, and a well-funded build has no real edge over a kit pumpkin. With every racer reduced to one pumpkin, two axles and zip ties, a collision on the hill can knock out the fastest build in any heat.
Start-line rules work the same way. Nobody may push or "help" a racer at the start, so you set it in place and put your hands up. Every round is single elimination. A racer wins when its wheels cross the finish line, the referees' call is final, and the head referee can order a race-off if a result is disputed. The posted rules list no costume or design awards. Costumes are encouraged, but the finish line decides everything.
Rule 10 says race officials have "a keen eye and the Mallet-O-Justice ready" for any cheater pumpkin. The City page also links to a separate section for people who build a cheater on purpose because they want to see the mallet come down on it. The pumpkins Rogers remembered entrants building to get smashed on purpose now have their own section on the City's page.
At the 2025 race, MB News reported that referees are trained to spot cheaters, often watermelons dressed up as pumpkins, and to smash them on the course in front of everyone. The cleanup crew stays busy. The paper photographed the race trophies lined up in front of the Mallet of Justice. Last year's themed entries included Marvel superheroes, Disney princesses, the Dodgers, Beetlejuice and Labubus.
Sources disagree on where the first race was held. Easy Reader's 2015 reporting puts Rogers' birthday party on Longfellow Avenue in Hermosa Beach. MB News says the race started at Rogers' birthday party in East Manhattan Beach on Halloween Eve 1990, and the City also describes it as starting in Manhattan Beach. Both credit Rogers, Aaker and John Holliday with designing the Pumpkin Racer and the race format.
The rest of the history is less disputed. Easy Reader reported that the race grew every year until hundreds of people were coming. In 1997 it moved to Holliday's house at 8th Street and North Herrin Street. About 17 years after the first race, the three founders couldn't handle the crowds anymore and asked the City to take it over.
Their contact was Idris Al-Oboudi in Parks and Recreation. Rogers told Easy Reader he expected "a corner of a park." Instead, Al-Oboudi asked where the race would be in his wildest dreams. Rogers pictured pumpkins rolling toward the Pier, and Al-Oboudi answered, "Well, dreams come true." The first Pier races were held in 2007. Al-Oboudi said more than 8,000 people came that year, and he described his own addition as "Harlem Globetrotters meets Pumpkin Races on steroids." That same year, the race won the National Recreation and Park Association's Special Event of the Year award and the California Park and Recreation Society's Award of Distinction.
Kits went on sale Oct. 3 at the Hometown Fair. They cost $35 before race day and $40 on race day, and the City's page says you're welcome to build your own racer instead. If you're getting a kit this week, here's where to find one:
On race day, you can also buy kits in Pumpkin Race Land in the upper Pier Parking Lot - South. The City's Pit Row Booth helps kit owners with decorations and accessories. The Pumpkin Pit Crew offers tips and tune-ups, and the Tinker Zone has tools, wheels, axles and decorations. Zip ties, the one stabilizer the rules allow, are available at Pumpkin Kit Row while supplies last.
The Turbo Pass is optional. It went on sale online Oct. 5 for $7, covers two pumpkin entries and gets you into a separate line at a set time. Check in before your slot, because the pass stops working once your time has passed. Without a pass, you can still race. You just wait in the regular line.
The City lists these approximate times and notes they may change:
The City lists festival hours as noon to 5 p.m. even though the championship is scheduled for 5:45. The MB News event listing gives noon to 6 p.m. If you show up late, you may get to race for time just for fun, or race other late arrivals for a spot in a qualifier, if the schedule allows.
The course runs along Manhattan Beach Boulevard between Ocean Drive and the Pier. Easy Reader's race-day coverage says referees wait at the bottom of the boulevard to catch the racers. The boulevard and the Pier lots close for the event. The City's posted closure schedule still uses last year's weekday labels and links to a map marked 2025, so check that page again before you drive in. You can also skip parking and take the City's on-demand MB Wave Rider. Rides are booked through the app and cost $5 per person, or $2.50 for riders 55 and older, with Sunday service from noon to 8 p.m. The City also suggests bringing water and sunscreen.
The next City event on the calendar is the Family Halloween Carnival on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Manhattan Heights Park, 1600 Manhattan Beach Boulevard. After that comes the Pier Lighting on Nov. 18 and the 38th Annual Skechers Manhattan Beach Holiday Fireworks at the Pier on Dec. 13, with fireworks at 7 p.m.
At Lisa Moule Realty, we love the South Bay traditions that grew out of a backyard idea, and the Pumpkin Race on Manhattan Beach Boulevard is one of our favorites. If race day gets you thinking about your own next move closer to the Pier, call or text Lisa. Schedule your South Bay consultation.
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