I'm one of those lucky ones... 3 Schmeck coasters with in 2 hours of me.
Comet and Phoenix (1946 and 1947 designs) actually share more characteristics than Comet and Thunderhawk.
Hershey's original coaster was Wildcat (originally named Joy Ride) and was a Schmeck design built in or around 1923... the same year as Thunderhawk (which was heavily modified in or around 1930). Not sure, I've always wondered how much Wildcat and the "original" (pre renovation) Thunderhawk resembled each other?
With WWII, and a shortage of materials here on the home front, Hershey Park did only the minimum work needed to keep Wildcat running. When the war ended, they did an assessment of the coaster and decided that it would be more cost effective to tear it down and replace it than to repair it. Schmeck (who they said was never really happy with his Wildcat design) was called in once again to design the new coaster, and in 1946 Comet opened and has been running (and a park favorite) ever since.
The trim on the 2nd turn around does slow the second half of the ride down, but when those trims are not on or not on heavily, the tran screams through the bunny hops to a wild end. Very little coasters can give the visual thrill of that first drop over the creek, espeically from the front seat.
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 8/6/2001. ***