The Coaster from "Mr. Wizard's World."

I remember a bit from this show where Mr. Wizard was using a radar gun to clock the speed of various objects. They ended up at a roller coaster and the kid with him said it felt like it was going 100 miles per hour. I remember they clocked it at 45. Anybody know what coaster/park this was?

What did it look like?
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"We are no longer the knights who say Ni! We are now the knights who say eckyeckyeckyeckypakungloopoingengzourjin."
"Ni"-Monty Python and the Holy Grail

I remember that show. Dident he also do a speed test on a pirat boat ride as well?

It was Steel Phantom at Kennywood.

I'm pretty sure it was not Steel Phantom. I think Mr. Wizard asked the kid when the ride felt the fastest and he replied "at the bottom of the big hill" I don't remember the coaster real well but the "big hill" was not Steel Phantom, also, I know he clocked it in the 40mph range

There may have been a swinging ship ride on the show but to show positive and negative forces and not speed.

I remember seeing the show, and yes, there was a swinging ship ride. Also, I'm sure it was Steel Phantom and Kennywood. It was the one with the tube with the thing in it that bounced up and down the measure G-Forces? We could be talking about 2 different shows but I know the one I saw was Steel Phantom. I can distinctly remember the turn at the bottom of the 225 foot drop in the ravine.

There used to be a ride called the FIREBALL. (I think that is the correct name) The ride I think was during the 1940's or 1960's that stated that the ride literally reached 100 mph, but that was just an advertising hoax and the wooden coaster only hit about 45 or 50 mph tops. It was an exaggeration that people thought the ride was 100 mph because it was one of the fastest rides at the time except that it was only the basic speed of a woodie of today around (50 mph). But most modern woodies today are at least 60 mph, which is pretty cool.

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Dave
*** This post was edited by ACE15 on 4/14/2001. ***

I am getting a stronger visual image of this:
Mr. Wizard and the kid were standing in an open field right at the base of the hill. The hill didn't look very big and I think the train curved around and then dropped. I'm pretty sure the ride didn't have OTSR either.

I think there were three different episodes at an amusement park. ONe was to measure the speed of the roller coaster. Another was measuring G-forces on the swinging ship, and a third was about how you won't fall out of your seat when the coaster goes upside down (I suppose this could be the one that took place on Steel Phantom but I think the show predates this coaster).
*** This post was edited by millrace on 4/14/2001. ***

It wasn't the Fireball, Dave. The one you're referring to operated at Riverview Park in good old Chicago,IL. Unfortunately, Riverview and the Fireball closed forever in 1968. I have a book with the ad for it claiming to go 100 MPH, when it had only about a 70 foot drop (although it was very steep and went under the staion :))

~TodD~
"Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"

Wasn't Mr. Wizard filmed in Ontario, Canada?

Mr. Wizard was in the 80's also, way before Steel Phantom

i am almost 100% sure it was an arrow or vekoma looper. It couldn't have been much taller than 70 feet tall, and it was in a big open field.

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Don't touch the watch.