Roller Coaster Corporation of America

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
Website www.rcca.com
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 projects 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 any more 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 Converted [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 SBNO [18]
Coaster Express Parque Warner Madrid 2002 Operating [19]

References

  1. ↑ "RCCA". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  2. 1 2 "Archive of RCCA Site - History". Archived from the original on February 24, 2006. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  3. ↑ "Archive of RCCA Site - Manufacturing". Archived from the original on February 6, 2007. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  4. ↑ "Letter from Dana Morgan" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  5. ↑ "Rattler Incident Summary" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  6. ↑ "KI Sues over Son of Beast". Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  7. ↑ "Coaster Firm Says Not Their Fault". Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  8. ↑ "Archive of RCCA Site - Projects". Archived from the original on February 7, 2007. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  9. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Great American Scream Machine  (Six Flags Over Georgia)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  10. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Arkansas Twister  (Magic Springs and Crystal Falls)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  11. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Florida Hurricane  (Boardwalk and Baseball)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  12. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Judge Roy Scream  (Six Flags Over Texas)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  13. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Iron Rattler  (Six Flags Fiesta Texas)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  14. ↑ Marden, Duane. "White Canyon  (Yomiuriland)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  15. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Montezum  (Hopi Hari)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  16. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Bandit  (Movie Park Germany)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  17. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Son of Beast  (Kings Island)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  18. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Magnus Colossus  (Terra Mitica)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  19. ↑ Marden, Duane. "Coaster Express  (Parque Warner Madrid)". Roller Coaster DataBase. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
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