Thunder Road

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Thunder Road

Thunder Road in 2005

Carowinds
Location	Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Coordinates	35°06′02″N 80°56′33″W / 35.100424°N 80.942573°W / 35.100424; -80.942573
Section	County Fair
Status	Defunct
Operated	April 3, 1976 to July 26, 2015
Cost	$1.6 million
Rider height	48 inch minimum
Replaced by	Carolina Harbor expansion

Statistics

Builder

Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters

Designer / calculations

Curtis D. Summers

Type

Wooden - Twin

Track layout

Out and Back

Riders per train

24

Propulsion

Chain lift hill

Serial number

155

Height

93 feet

Top speed

58 mph

Length

3819 feet

Inversions

0

Duration

2:10

Thunder Road was a Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters wooden roller coaster located at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. It was a twin roller coaster, featuring two individual tracks that ran parallel each other.

The coaster was built across the Carolinas state line. The coaster began in South Carolina and then crossed into North Carolina.

History

The ride originally featured automobile-themed trains that originated from the Jetstream at Riverview Park in Chicago, Illinois, USA.^[1] The trains were replaced by 1987.

The trains on one of the two tracks ran in reverse from 1996 through 2008.^[2]

On May 23, 2015, Carowinds announced that Thunder Road would be removed.^[3] It closed on July 26, 2015 and was replaced by the Carolina Harbor waterpark expansion.^[4] In 2019, Copperhead Strike opened, with one turn occupying the former plot of Thunder Road.

Design

Elements
Chain lift hill Bunny hill Micro bunny Hill Bunny hill Hill 4 hills

The design of the ride was based upon Rebel Yell, another wooden racing coaster at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia, USA.

Trains

4 trains with 4 cars per train. In each car, riders are arranged 2 across in 3 rows, for a total of 24 riders per train.

Incident

On April 5, 1999, a sensor failure caused a collision between a train and an empty train in the station. Sixteen riders were onboard, seven of whom were injured. The roller coaster reopened on April 9 following a replacement of all sensors.^[5]^[6]