A Blast Past From The Past - Lightning Racer Construction

With Lightning Racer, Hersheypark asked Great Coasters and designer Mike Boodley to put a new twist on tradition, thus taking GCI designs to the next level! The field adjacent to Midway America was soon dotted with concrete footers and wooden bents were sprouting up like trees.

By early September the bottom of the two first drops was shaping up. Work continued through out the fall and by Mid-December news leaked that one lift motor would have a fixed speed and the other would be a variable speed motor, which would ensure a "fair" race no matter when the trains left the station (as long as they were still climbing the lift.)

In this photo the inside curve appears to be complete, but the outside has much work to be done.

Here's a look at what would eventually be the Lightning Racer's twin stations

This aerial shot shows that while a lot of the coaster's 6786 feet of track is complete, there is still plenty of work the GCII crew to do.

Curves like the one on the right side of this photo were the reasoning for the creation of GCI's GCI's Millennium Flyer articulating trains, with provide a smooth quick and comfortable ride no matter how twisted the ride is!

Here's Great Coasters founders and Co-owners Claire Hain & Mike Boodley taking one of the first test rides on Lightning Racer.

Greeter Linda W shared a couple of construction photos with us, complete with models, on the left is Linda's oldest daughter Alexa and on the right is little sister, Alaina.

Both young ladies spent this season as lifeguards at Hersheypark's Boardwalk Water park. Mom reports that they still managed to enjoy the park and get plenty of rides on Lightning Racer.

We would like to thank Great Coasters & Linda W for allowing us to use their fantastic construction photos.