Show ! : t STANDARD-EXAMINE- TRAVEL BOOKS WEDDINGS R SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2 1990 FEATURES EDITOR: 0 625-427- Fashion flair for your car OK so maybe this Persian Gulf thing is for real Maybe gas prices won't ever come down again Maybe we’ll eventually end up running out of oil When we finally do have to park our vehicles by the side of the road some of us are going to have pretty some exotic-lookin- g planter boxes Why? Fluorescent accessories You’ve doubt no seen them around hot pink and day-glo- green w Standard-Examin- windshield wip-- coiumist ers driving- light covers steering wheels shock-absorb- boots er license-plat- e covers door guards and more With just a minimum of expense such brightly colored accessories can take a rather plain ordinary-lookin- g vehicle and tum it into a rather plain ordinary-lookin- g vehicle with all this dor-k- y d stuff on it neon-colore- Anno The steel roller coaster Colossus makes its way to the top of the first hill This U-oon attraction features twin take riders head-over-hee- 65-fo- ot ls loops that right after com- - ing feet r RaupStandard-Examine- out of a screaming twisting dive from 85 in the air ZTMZTtT 1 — — vm crag dZL 3 1 t 1! 1 - Technology sends tremors Ride design endures years remains big draw at Lagoon through amusement parks By RICHARD N VELOTTA Standard-Examine- r By RICHARD N VELOTTA staff Standard-Examine- hen the gates at Six Flags Magic Mountain open every morning at Valencia Calif there’s a mad dash to the amusement park’s newest roller coaster The Viper Riders know that the longest lines in the park will be at the coaster which launches them upside down an astonishing seven times in a little over two minutes But where will these thrill-seeke- rs II 1 H I L itself Geisler is a aficionado so the giant ride simply called the Roller Coaster at Lagoon is a favorite for him “It’s kind of an Irish setter of a ride” said Geisler “There’s a barnstorming quality to wooden coasters a looseness that steel coasters just can’t duplicate If steel coasters are the state of the art wooden ones are the heart of the art Lagoon’s roller coaster is a fast fun friendly megaride" The Lagoon Roller Coaster was designed by John A Miller who also designed coaster rides at New York’s Coney Island Built by the Colorado Construction Co in 1921 it opened for business at Lagoon in 1922 ' although that birthdate is somewhat misleading of thing where “It’s like a GoldenGate Bridge-typ- e we’re constantly repainting or rebuilding it” said Dick Andrew marketing director at Lagoon “There’s a maintenance crew that works specifically on the Roller Coaster" said Andrew “They check and recheck the timbers and the track and have a detailed maintenance checklist The crew comes in at 6 in the that morning and the ride doesn’t open until noon gives you an idea how well they look over the ride and ' work on it every day" The Roller Coaster's first hill is 70 feet high and makes a dive reaching speeds of up to 45 mph The track is some 2500 feet long and the six main dips plummet 55 42 42 34 27 and 26 feet On a recent afternoon Roller Coaster riders confirmed Geisler's observation that there’s nothing quite like the rattling rickety sensation this ride offers “I like this one better than Colossus (Lagoon’s steel looping coaster)" said Scott Stromberg of Sandy “I like it because it's a wood coaster It's rougher scarier It wood-frame- 1 It’s 9 in the morning and Ron Toomer has already h office at Clearfield’s Freeport Center On the coffee tables are magazines describing amusement park rides Toomer and the firm he serves as president Arrow Dynamics Inc are mentioned prominently in the stories that describe a potpourri of amusements ranging from carousels to looping roller coasters On the walls are enlargements of some of the rides he has seen from the drawing board id the amusement park The names are as intriguing as the rides ' 0 The Vortex Log themselves: Ninja Magnum Jammer The Loch Ness Monster The Viper But today the Arrow team is assembling a different kind of ride It won’t loop the loop or hurtle down hills at 70 miles an hour It’s a monorail car for the Los Angeles County fairgrounds It will transport people coaster’s hills “As far as I who has ridden 337 roller coasters including all three of Lagoon’s “it’s the only place that has sheep in the middle of the ride” While the sheep certainly aren’t the feature attraction Geisler points out that a coaster’s setting can be as much a thing of beauty as the excitement of the ride summers ahead? Ronald V Toomer the man who designed all those coils in The Viper knows By 1992 there will be a new generation of roller coaster in some of the nation’s theme parks And those who have gotten a taste of the new Pipeline ride developed by Toomer and his associates and taken through a few test runs before its public debut in 992 say “Mr Steel Roller Coaster” has outdone himself high-tec- agoon may not have the fastest highest or scariest roller coaster in America but it does have something no other amusement park can claim: livestock grazing at the base of its roller know” said Randy Geisler LmJI president of the American Coaster Enthusiasts rush in the been working more than two hours at his staff r Jet Star II flies at 50 mph through a series of curves screeching io a halt in 45 seconds XL-20- from their cars to the action How does Toomer come up with his roller coaster designs? See COASTERS on 6E wooden-coast- er d 55-fo- ot Good better best: Rating the rides Randy Geisler president of the American Coaster Enthusiasts lists what he thinks are the best roller coaster rides in the United States Coaster that best resembles a stock market graph: The Blue Streak ' at Conneaut Lake Park in Conneaut Lake Pa It has three big hills with steep drops It’s very much like the stock market Especially lately” Coaster that best turns you every which way but loose: “The Viper (Six Flags Magic Mountain Valencia intense Calif) It’s fantastic Non-sto- p ty The Viper is the latest word in coaster acrobatics” Coaster with hill most reminiscent of the cliff scene from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid": "The See BEST on £E - Cr f state-of-the-a- rt i) ViV e S f- - s ? l- A' - "9’ e adds to the excitement” Linda Gustaveson of Riverton got off the ride somewhat flustered “I thought we were going on something slow!” she exclaimed in mock surprise Her children lan 7 and Abbey 9 just giggled “I went on it because I'm being a good mom” But would she be a good enough mom to take the brood on Colossus aka The Fire Dragon a k a the Colossal Fire Dragon? The two coasters arc continually being measured against each other although it's like comparing panthers and pumas — they're both fast and wild Drawing the most attention at the Colossus are the r twin heds right loops that take riders after coming out of a screaming twisting dive from 85 feet in the air Sea LAGOON on CE 65-fo- ot S Flag Magic Mountain pneto The Viper at Magic Mountain has three kinds of loops head-ove- -- And there are plenty of accessories to be blMpne local auto parts store offerireverything from $269 fluorescent yellow “wiper wheels in aids” to racing-styl- e “Bahama Mama Pink” at $6888 per wheel But what about those accessories you can’t buy in such mod colors? Hey no problem Jtfst paint what you’ve got For jus! under $8 cans of spray paint allow you to colorize everything from the distributor cap to the floor mats I suppose in the right hands this would be tolerable I suppose hot pink on a black or white vehicle is ostentatious at worst But it’s apparent from some of the color combinations driving around town that a lot of motorists have to have their mothers dress them in the morning mean I’m not necessarily a great believer in fashion rules r— heaven knows I’ve been known to wear a striped tie with a plajd shirt — but there's just something about fluorescent green windshield wipers on a bumt-or- ange Ford Fiesta that makes one wonder if clashing color schemes violate some sort of traffic ordinance I Yet while these fluorescent can be fairly obnoxious it gets worse Like the Rally Euro Sport Imitation Car Phone Antenna For a mere $349 (available at Fred Meyer stores everywhere) your vehicle you can yuppie-iz- e with a fake antenna As advertised on the package the realistic-lookin- g plastic antenna comes in three colors (red white or black) and offers such amenities as: add-on- s car-pho- ne Prestigious flair Universal easy installation k adhesive back (hence the universal easy installation) That's right just peel the paper away from the adhesive backing and slap that baby on the' car's rear window for that snooty Self-stic- look Ooh pretentiousness without the price And on a final automotive note have you seen the latest bumper sticker to hit Northern Utah? I've spied it on several vehicles in the last week or so' It’s a variation on those annoying “I’d rather be flying sleepingbreathingwatching up" bumper Stickers I first saw it on a car one night as I was headed home from work It’s put out I believe by the Air National Guard or some such organization The red white and blue bumper sticker proclaims: “IF I WAS IN AN I'D BE HOME BY NOW" Oh yeah? Well don’t count on it In fact in an 6 right now home would probably be the last place you'd be headed 6 F-1- r ' |