Roller Coaster Corporation of America

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Roller Coaster Corporation of America
Private company
Founded 1979
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia,, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Michael Black
Stephen Black
Products Wooden Roller Coasters
Owner Michael Black
An overview of RCCA's Son of Beast when the ride featured a vertical loop.
Son of Beast with loop

Roller Coaster Corporation of America (abbreviated RCCA) is an amusement ride manufacturer based in the United States.[1] The company's first major project was the Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in 1992, while their most famous coaster was the Son of Beast at Kings Island, the world's tallest and first looping wooden coaster when it opened in 2000.

History

The Roller Coaster Corporation of America was established in 1979, but the president Michael Black had worked on wooden coaster construction project before, like the Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags Over Georgia in 1973, with his father Marvin Black and brother Stephen Black.[2] The company prided itself in their manufacturing technique, which involved pre-manufacturing sections of the wooden structure and track at facilities off-site and then assembling on-site. This reduced what could otherwise be a year long construction project to around 6 months.[3] In 1992, under the name Roller Coaster Corporation of Texas, they built the Rattler for Six Flags Fiesta Texas, which opened as the tallest, fastest, and steepest wooden coaster in the world. However, the RCCA faced criticism for rushing through testing,[4] and the ride's high forces led to numerous injuries during the first year of operation.[5]

In 1997, the RCCA was approached by Paramount Kings Island to create the world's first wooden hyper coaster. The result of 3 years of planning and construction was Son of Beast, which opened in May 2000.[2] While reviews were initially positive, the ride deteriorated over the first year, leading to a lawsuit from Kings Island against the RCCA and some of their contractors for shoddy design and insufficient supports.[6] In response, the RCCA claimed that Kings Island had dismissed the company before construction was completed to save money and filed their own suit.[7]

The RCCA built a handful of other coasters in the early 2000s, the most recent being Coaster Express at Parque Warner Madrid in 2002. Since then, they have not built anymore coasters, and it is unknown if the company still operates.

Installations

Roller Coaster Corporation of America has built 10 coasters across the world.[8] Two are now defunct (Son of Beast and White Canyon) and one has been completely re-done by Rocky Mountain Construction (Rattler).

Name Location Opened Status
Great American Scream Machine Six Flags Over Georgia 1973 Operating [9]
Arkansas Twister
Florida Hurricane
Magic Springs and Crystal Falls
Boardwalk and Baseball
1992
1978
Operating
Closed in 1990
[10][11]
Judge Roy Scream Six Flags Over Texas 1980 Operating [12]
Rattler (now Iron Rattler) Six Flags Fiesta Texas 1992 Operating [13]
White Canyon Yomiuriland 1994 Defunct [14]
Montezum Hopi Hari 1999 Operating [15]
Bandit Movie Park Germany 1999 Operating [16]
Son of Beast Kings Island 2000 Removed [17]
Magnus Colossus Terra Mitica 2000 Operating [18]
Coaster Express Parque Warner Madrid 2002 Operating [19]

References

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