The world-record attempt test: a listing is not an attempt — and no attempt stands

the attempt class swept, November 2026

The distinction leads: the Studebaker tree sign's 1987 Guinness listing is a recognition of a thing that exists — the world's longest living advertisement, planted 1938 — not a record attempt: nobody gathered in New Carlisle to do something the most times, the fastest, or in the largest number, before an adjudicator. The attempt test therefore runs separately, over the one venue this town owns that could plausibly host such a thing — its invented championship. The Wiffle®Ball Championship's own published record (the tournament's history at hometowncup.com and the festival record at hometowndays.net) was swept for an attempt-class item — a costumed or mass-participation record attempt at a named venue — and carries none: its superlatives are competitive (96 teams in 2024, a record turnout, is a field size, not a Guinness-class attempt), and its folklore is of the invented kind the standard article records — a curse and a stadium prank — not adjudicated marks. No other venue's attempt surfaces in the searches run. The row prints at result: the town holds a Guinness listing and no documented world-record attempt, and the two are not interchangeable in this build.

Sources:

1. St. Joseph County Parks / National Register record for the tree sign (Guinness listing, 1987 — a listing, characterized as such).
2. The Wiffle®Ball Championship, hometowncup.com (history and past results; the 2024 record turnout of 96 teams) and Hometown Days, hometowndays.net — read November 2026; no attempt-class item in either record.
3. The searches run for a record attempt at a New Carlisle venue, November 2026 — negative at the strength stated.