Curtis D. Summers

Curtis D. Summers

Status	Defunct
Headquarters	Loveland, Ohio, USA
Key people	Charles Dinn

Curtis D. Summers was an American structural engineer.

History

Summers worked as a structural engineer in the US Navy from 1953 to 1958. He went on to work for Coney Island on projects including the Lake Como Railroad, Skyride and the Puppet Theatre. When the company behind Coney Island built the larger Kings Island park, Summers worked on the construction of the Racer roller coaster, which opened in 1972. That year, Summers set up Curtis D. Summers Inc. As well as roller coasters, it also worked on buildings and warehouses and had 18 employees in 1988.

Summers met Charles Dinn during the construction of Kings Island. The pair worked together on The Beast, which opened in 1979. Summers' company worked with the Dinn Corporation, supplying designs and calculations. The two companies working together delivered record-breaking wooden roller coasters. However, there were several accidents which led to parks taking legal action against the two companies.

Summers died of a heart attack in May 1992, amidst a legal battle with Six Flags. His last project was Jupiter at Kijima Kogen, which opened later that year. Several of Summers' employees were subsequently hired by Custom Coasters International, Inc., a company formed by Charles Dinn's daughter, Denise.

Personal life

During an interview in 1991, Summers said that he only rode roller coasters for work, never for fun, preferring to travel to the mountains or to Europe.

Projects

This list is incomplete, please expand it if you can.

Name	Park	Country	Collaborators	Opened	Status
Beast	Kings Island	USA	Kings Island, Charles Dinn	April 14, 1979	Operating
American Eagle	Six Flags Great America	USA	Intamin, Jim Figley, Leonard Wright	May 23, 1981	Operating
Wolverine Wildcat	Michigan's Adventure	USA	Dinn Corporation	May 18, 1988	Operating
Raging Wolf Bobs	Geauga Lake	USA	Dinn Corporation	May 28, 1988	Closed June 16, 2007
Timber Wolf	Worlds of Fun	USA	Dinn Corporation	April 1, 1989	Operating
Hercules	Dorney Park	USA	Dinn Corporation	May 6, 1989	Closed September 1, 2003
Georgia Cyclone	Six Flags Over Georgia	USA	Dinn Corporation	March 1990	Closed July 30, 2017
Texas Giant	Six Flags Over Texas	USA	Dinn Corporation	March 17, 1990	Closed November 1, 2009
Predator	Six Flags Darien Lake	USA	Dinn Corporation	May 25, 1990	Operating
Thunder Run	Kentucky Kingdom	USA	Dinn Corporation, John Fetterman	August 1990	Operating
Psyclone	Six Flags Magic Mountain	USA	Dinn Corporation	March 23, 1991	Closed 2006
Pegasus	Efteling	Netherlands	Dinn Corporation, Intamin	July 1, 1991	Closed June 9, 2009
Jupiter	Kijima Kogen	Japan	Intamin	1992	Operating