ACE News Switchback — April 2025

Recommend

originally posted on 4/28/2025

View full-sized image.

Starting in 1976 with the Texas Cyclone at AstroWorld in Houston, Texas (and taking a break throughout the remainder of the seventies and eighties), attempting to replicate the legendary Coney Island Cyclone of Brooklyn, New York, was a popular trend. In retrospect, no amusement park got it more wrong than Six Flags Magic Mountain (Valencia, California) with Psyclone, although I stand by my assertion that any new wood coaster is a positive thing, and it was sure nice seeing theme parks add second woodies at the time. That said, it should not come as any surprise that it was the shortest-lived of the four Cyclone clones that found their ways into U.S. Six Flags parks.

Showing much more longevity (twice!) was Wildcat at Frontier City in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Originally the Fairyland Park (Kansas City, Missouri) Wildcat, the coaster caught the tail end of the wood coaster relocation movement of the 1980s and early 1990s, finding a new home after sitting idle for more than a decade. Frontier City’s Wildcat continues entertaining riders to this day, nearly 35 years after having been saved.

In the realm of steel coasters, Anaconda and Vortex represent Arrow Dynamics and Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) like two ships passing in the night — the former representing where the industry had been and the latter illustrating its future. Perhaps because B&M was heavily employing computer-aided design to design its rides to be smooth and exciting, Vortex would end up being among the first in a very long line of roller coasters created by the firm, while Anaconda would quickly represent a slowdown in Arrow’s output (it would end up producing only a handful of roller coasters in its later years).

Some news items in this issue reflected staying power as Eastcoaster is still a winter tradition for ACEers. Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, Hersheypark (Hershey, Pennsylvania) upped its coaster count to the lofty total of four — hard to believe since the park now boasts one of the largest (and most varied) roller coaster collections in the county.

This issue of ACE News features a small news item that has stood with me since it first arrived in my mailbox nearly 35 years ago — a quick piece about a mystery wood coaster being built… somewhere. The coaster would end up being Tornado at Stricker’s Grove in Hamilton, Ohio — a family-owned picnic grove that I had the pleasure of researching and writing about for RollerCoaster! a few years back. To think there was a time when ACE News was capable of breaking big industry stories, back before the near-instantaneous delivery of news across the internet is almost unbelievable.

— Rob Ascough, ACE News Editor

View full-sized image.

The cover story of this issue features the Psyclone woodie's debut at Six Flags Magic Mountain. This was one of three Coney Island Cyclone clones being built by Six Flags parks back then (the other two being the 1990 Georgia Cyclone at Six Flags Over Georgia [Austell] and the 1995 Viper at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois). Psyclone received mixed reviews from enthusiasts, and I would agree that it was a mixed bag. Although it was great to see a new woodie for Six Flags Magic Mountain, this was the wimpiest recreation yet of the Coney Island Cyclone, in my opinion, with the turns way too wide and with only a couple of moments of coastering excitement. Psyclone only lasted 15 years and was closed after the 2006 season. I feel Viper at Six Flags Great America was probably the best of the Six Flags recreations of the famed Coney Island coaster, and happily that woodie survives to this day and can be experienced at this year's ACE Coaster Con 47, hosted by Six Flags Great America, Little Amerricka (Marshall, Wisconsin) and Indiana Beach (Monticello, Indiana).

As an interesting side note, Psyclone's trains were provided by B&M. Psyclone would be the only wooden coaster with trains provided by B&M — and it is interesting to recall that this was when B&M was just starting to make its presence felt in the amusement industry. The firm had just opened the stand-up Iron Wolf at Six Flags Great America and would open the stand-up Vortex (now called Patriot, after the stand-up trains were replaced in 2017 with floorless, sit-downs) at California's Great America (Santa Clara) in 1991. You can read about the debut of Vortex on page 3 of this April 1991 issue of ACE News. B&M was just starting to get its feet wet, and although it would not build trains for any other woodies, it is responsible for 133 roller coasters so far — many of which are regarded as among the best steel coasters in existence.

Page 4 highlights the opening of Anaconda at Kings Dominion (Doswell, Virginia), regarded as a dramatic (what with that drop into a tunnel diving underneath a lake) and exciting steel coaster back in the day. Of course, we know now that Anaconda's last season was 2024, and the steelie has been demolished. With this most recent loss, of the 98 coasters Arrow created, the industry is now down to 45 of them still operating, according to Roller Coaster DataBase.

I see that I was editor-at-large for ACE News in 1991 (helping a bit with Editor-in-Chief Chris George) and appear to have written many of the articles in this April issue. It is a kick to re-read that issue now, after the passing of time. I am bemused by my own mini editorial found on page 14, wherein I was attempting to bring some would-be edgy/outrageous humor to the subject of ACE members’ sometimes edgy/outrageous behavior at amusement parks. I was attempting to be funny courtesy of my "Ask Cathy Coaster" tongue-in-cheek featurette (I fear I may have been a tad too outrageous with my attempt at sarcasm, but it was a tricky topic to bring up back then) before diving into the more boring official “rules” expected of ACEers at parks. These days ACE has a Discipline Committee that deals with ACE members who behave inappropriately, but back in the day (including during my presidency and under Ray Ueberroth after me when I was immediate past president) the responsibility for dealing with the misbehaving individual fell to ACE officers or sometimes the regional reps.

On a sad note (on page 13) the home of one of ACE's most treasured families — the Fluhartys, Helen and Harry — was destroyed in a fire. I recall with alarm that poor Helen suffered second- and third-degree burns. Happily, Helen recovered and would go on to live another 33 years, riding a lot more coasters, along with her children, Mark and Tracy. Of course, just recently, ACE News noted that Helen passed away on November 9, 2024, at the age of 82. It remains a joy for all who have met her to have known her.

Finally, on page 16, ACE announced it had reached 4,000 members! That was quite an achievement 34 years ago (ACE has nearly doubled in size in the 34 years). But back in April of 1991, I recall that during my stint as ACE president (1986-1990) and the first year of Ueberroth's presidency in 1991, ACE had nearly tripled in size since 1986 (and I am proud of whatever part I might have played in making ACE well-known and popular). In June 1991, ACE would hold its most well-attended convention ever, with close to 800 attending Coaster Con 14 at Kennywood in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania (and the debut of the Steel Phantom). It was a heady time back then, as ACE was really hitting its stride.

— Randy Geisler