Whizzer is a roller coaster at Six Flags Great America, located in the Hometown Square section of the park. It opened with the park on May 29, 1976.
The ride was one of two identical "Willard's Whizzer" roller coasters built for each of the Marriott's Great America parks for their debut in 1976. It is now the only Whizzer remaining, as the California's Great America version has been removed.
The ride was manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf of Germany, and the two versions of Whizzer were the last "Speedracer" models ever built.
History[]
From the start, both versions of Whizzer suffered from problems with the braking system that would sometimes allow the trains to collide in the station. Unfortunately, no immediate solution was put forth to remedy this problem. In one four-year period, from 1976 to 1979, there were at least 11 recorded instances of station collisions on the California's Great America version, resulting in an unknown number of injuries. There were also two station collisions on the Six Flags Great America version - both of which occurred less than a month apart in 1976. A total of 31 riders were injured in the Gurnee collisions.
In July 2002, fueled by increasing maintenance costs, it was made public that the Whizzer would be removed to make way for a new attraction to open in 2003. The park wanted to give guests the opportunity to ride one of its more popular and nostalgic attractions one last time. Then, the park abruptly reversed their decision to remove the Whizzer and closed Shockwave, a large, seven-inversion steel roller coaster, instead. The park cited overwhelming public outcry as reason for the last-minute change. Superman: Ultimate Flight opened in 2003 on the plot of land formerly occupied by Shockwave.
Six Flags Great America's Whizzer celebrated 40 years on May 29, 2016.
Awards[]
| Golden Ticket Awards: Top Steel Roller Coasters | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2008 | 2009 | 2013 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| Position | 45 | 47 | 40 | 45 | 46 (tie) | 50 | 44 |
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