Top Thrill Dragster Tumultuous History: The Cedar Point roller coaster Top Thrill Dragster will be replaced by Top Thrill 2 in 2019, the park announced on Tuesday. In addition, this new attraction is billed as “the world’s tallest and fastest triple-launch strata coaster.”
The attraction was introduced in a 50-second video posted on Tuesday morning by park officials. The location of the attraction is Sandusky, Ohio. On the roller coaster, the amusement park claims passengers will experience the excitement, speed, and adrenaline of professional racing.
It asserts that for each of its three launches, its top speeds are 74, 101, and 120 miles per hour. A woman from Michigan was severely injured when a 420-foot-tall metal bracket fell from the Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster and struck her in the head, resulting in the ride’s closure in 2021.
The new attraction will replace the former one. The incident occurred at approximately 4:30 p.m. on August 15, 2021. When it opened, the Top Thrill Dragster was the second-tallest roller coaster in the globe.
Riders were propelled at 120 miles per hour down a straightaway before ascending an incline and descending again. The attraction opened in 2003. Less than twenty seconds elapsed during the trip.
Rachel Hawes, who was injured while waiting in queue, filed a lawsuit against the amusement complex last month. Hawes asserts that the park’s negligence contributed to the incident that caused her catastrophic brain injury. A week after the incident, park officials identified the object that struck Hawes as an L-shaped bracket roughly the size of a fist.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture, which regulates amusement parks, concluded in a report released in February 2022 that Cedar Point did not violate any laws nor had any reason to suspect the ride was dangerous prior to the tragedy.
The attraction will be unavailable until 2022, when the complex will reopen. In early September of last year, Cedar Point announced the closure of the Top Thrill Dragster attraction.
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Top Thrill Dragster Tumultuous History
The Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point is visible from miles away, and when it opened in 2003, it set height and speed records. In 2005, the Kingda Ka coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, surpassed those previous records.
Before it was shut down, nearly 18 million persons had used the roller coaster. In only 3.8 seconds, it launched passengers into the air at 120 miles per hour. Initial issues with the Top Thrill Dragster’s temperamental hydraulic system necessitated frequent closures.
There have been two previous incidents on the roller coaster, both of which resulted in injured riders. Four riders were injured in July 2004 when shards of a frayed metal wire flew off the roller coaster, and two riders were injured in 2016 when the coaster’s launch cable broke loose.
