John Allen’s style rubbed off on many other designers.  The following six coasters are close copies of four different coasters, each from three different periods of Allen’s design career.

John Allen was busy designing the Screamin’ Eagle for the 1976 season so Carowinds could not hire him to design a racing coaster similar to the ones found at Kings Island and Kings Dominion.  Instead, they turned to Curtis Summers, formerly a maintenance foreman at Cincinnati’s Coney Island.  Earlier in his career Summers consulted on many designing aspects when Kings Island was built.[1]  Thunder Road, a copy of Allen’s Rebel Yell coaster, opened at Carowinds in 1976.  It stood 93 feet high and had an 88-foot drop.  Because of the park’s location coaster riders traveled out of North Carolina, into South Carolina and back.[2]  The coaster opened with trains from defunct Riverview Park’s Jetstream coaster.  These were built in-house by William Schmidt and sold to Carowinds when the city of Sherwood, Illinois could not afford to rebuild the Jetstream at a city park.[3]  Carowinds also purchased the Fireball’s trains for $6300 and ran both sets on their coaster.  For several years these trains were themed to a sheriff and muscle car that referred to the Robert Mitchum film  “Thunder Run.”  Because the Riverview cars were so heavy (they were based on Prior and Church designs) they ate up the coaster’s track and P.T.C. trains were purchased.[4]  Page 217 of Tim Onosko’s book Funland U.S.A. clearly shows the Jetstream trains on the coaster.  They have different bodies than P.T.C.’s and feature diagonal struts, which ran from the running boards to the top of each car.  Possibly Thunder Road’s most famous feature was the Burma Shave-style signs that lined the lift hill.

The park also had Summers design a junior wooden coaster called Scooby Doo.   It was almost identical to the coasters built at Kings Dominion & Kings Island.  Five years later Summers built another Allen-inspired ride, the Ghoster Coaster at Canada’s Wonderland, another copy of the proven junior woodie model (now Scooby Doo’s Gasping Ghoster Coaster).[5]  Curtis Summers went on to build many more coasters.  Three of note were the Grizzly at Kings Dominion and the Wilde Beast and Mighty Canadian Minebuster at Canada’s Wonderland.  Working with the Taft Attraction Group Summers designed copies of some more famous P.T.C. coasters, this time from designer Herb Schmeck.  The first two were copies of Schmeck’s 1926 Coney Island, Ohio, coaster the Wildcat, while the latter was a version of the 1937 version of the Shooting Star.[6]  For pictures of the PCW coasters today visit: http://members.home.net/kreid/pcwguide/pcwcoasters.htm.

           In 1990 Stricker’s Grove surprised many in the industry when the small park announced it was building a wooden roller coaster.  Al Collins based his design upon Allen’s 1957 Comet coaster at Rocky Glen Park.[7]  Many of the ride’s parts came from the 1984 auction of another Allen coaster, the Petticoat Junction Tornado.  The only thing I have not found any confirmation on is whether or not the coaster train is from that ride.  Some reported that the train was refurbished and used, while others said that when the P.T.C. looked at it they estimated the cars were beyond help but salvaged the nameplate and Chevron V for the front of a new train.  The coaster had a 55-foot lift that started two feet below grade and with its classic layout & slightly banked turns the coaster looked like Allen and Hoover were on-site during its construction.[8] Stricker’s Grove, which is only open to the public on July 4 and the second weekend in August, has wonderfully maintained their classic coaster.  Today new generations of coaster lovers can get an idea of what rides on the Rocky Glen Park Comet were like (that coaster was sadly destroyed only a year and a half after the Stricker’s Grove Tornado opened).

October 1, 1994, Elitch Gardens last day of operations, was a sad day for many who loved Denver’s beautiful park.  Thousands jammed the gardens on its last day.  For 104 years the park was located at West 38^th Street.  But, as the park closed on that bitter October day the dream that was Elitch’s ended.  The chain lifts spun as Mister Twister and The Wildcat ratcheted their last trainloads of guests into the sky, the flowers withered and many years of tradition were lost.[9]  The talking heads were optimistic about the park’s move to downtown Denver for the building of a new (and better) Elitch Gardens.  However, arguably the two best assets of the old park, Mister Twister and The Wildcat, were left to a rot and the park hired designer John Pierce to build a “replica” of Mister Twister called Twister II.[10] 

Many wondered why the park asked for a similar design since the first Twister captured the hearts of so many.  There was just no way a replacement could ever do for the people that had enjoyed the wicked curves of the original for so many years.  But the downtown progress continued and as construction wore on the fears harbored by many became more apparent in the “replica” of Mr. Twister.[11]  John Pierce had the ability to build a coaster with bite, as evidenced in his 1991 Rattler at Fiesta Texas, but the Elitch owners obviously wanted a wood coaster the whole family could ride.  At the old location there were two wooden coasters that ensured those who wanted a calmer ride got on the Wildcat instead of Mister Twister.  The new Elitch’s had only one wooden coaster so Twister II had to be enjoyed by people of all ages.  Some modifications, like the removal of the second swoop turn in favor of a standard curve angered, but did not surprise, many.[12]  The new coaster opened with the park and after a short period Elitch Gardens could not draw the necessary number of patrons.  The P.T.C. trains were the only things saved for the new coaster and Twister II opened to so-so reviews among enthusiasts.  It was a fun ride (and Pierce a great designer), but it was not the original.  After two years the park was in financial trouble and bought by Premier Parks (now Six Flags, Inc.) shortly thereafter.[13]  From 1891 to 1994 Elitch Gardens was the gem of the Rockies and one of the greatest traditional parks west of the Mississippi River.  Today it is just another Six Flags park and is considered one of the worst in the chain.  Nothing at the park is that unique and many who want the feel of a great coaster head over to Denver’s only traditional amusement park, Lakeside Park, with its classic Cyclone coaster.  The Schmeck and Allen coasters were torn down in 1999.  Ironically that same year Mister Twister was, in a sense, born again.

On November 22, 1998 Knoebels amusement park in Elysburg, Pennsylvania announced that they planned on building Twister, a roller coaster based on the legendary Mister Twister.  The park said they were concerned with preserving the original experience and wanted to work to keep the spirit of Mister Twister alive in their new coaster.  Knoebels' staff had flirted with the idea of moving Mister Twister, but the footprint they had could not accommodate the coaster.  If any park would build a coaster true to the original, roller coaster enthusiasts knew it would be Knoebels.  Their Phoenix, relocated to the park in 1984, was impeccably maintained.  The owners let it run wild and with its powerful airtime it complimented Twister’s wild lateral g’s.  The only large problem came in the Twister’s placement at Knoebels.  To circumvent the space problems designer John Fetterman placed the new coaster’s station within the ride’s structure, relocated a tunnel, added a curved brake run and added a folded (split) lift hill with a swoop turn separating the two halves.[14]  Some great pictures of Twister under construction are at: http://www.dplus.net/knoebelsfan/twister/archive.html.

            The coaster opened on July 24, 1999 and enthusiasts from all over the country came to see how the new coaster stacked up to the classic.  Everyone who got off the ride could not believe what an amazing job Fetterman and the Knoebels crew had done capturing the intensity of Mister Twister in their version.  The park celebrated the connection between the Allen design and their coaster with a gold bolt from the original, placed near Twister’s entrance.[15]  The new coaster stood 102 feet high with an 89-feet and seven inches drop, sported 30 crossovers, was 3900 terrifying feet long and featured 500,000 board feet of lumber.[16]  With the Wildcat no longer a space issue Fetterman nearly doubled the amount of times the coaster crossed under itself and created a world-class experience in the process.[17]  Fans of the original Mister Twister like Bob Hooley agreed that the new coaster was a worthy successor to the famous Allen design.[18]  Be sure to visit Bob’s page for some fantastic views of Twister, it helps to understand what a magic ride this really is  (http://members.aol.com/RobbRipken/knoebel.html).  Mr. Twister may not have been John Allen’s favorite coaster, but it was one of his most beloved.  Thank you to Knoebels for having the courage to build this wonderful coaster.

            Many say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery and it is no surprise that John Allen was a designer chosen time and time again to replicate.  All of these parks knew they were building time proven designs that appealed to a wide range of patrons.  Stricker’s Grove and Knoebels both deserve special mention for preserving two unique designs, but all of these parks must be thanked for keeping the tradition of such a legendary designer alive.

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Adam Sandy, Copyright 2001.