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While I would have preferred it if Anton Schwarzkopf won the coaster wars of the 1980's and became the dominant steel coaster manufacturer that didn't happen.



Arrow Dynamics; who pioneered the corkscrew in 1975 and went head over heels with the vertical loop in 1977 with the Double Loop at Ohio's Geauga Lake, became the primary builder of looping coasters throughout the 1980's.  At the end of the 1980's Six Flags signed the contract with Arrow for three massive coasters with seven loops each. 



The first of these triplets (all had a similar layout) was the Shockwave at Six Flags Great America in 1988.  In 1989 the Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags Great Adventure; which was three feet taller than Shockwave's 170 foot tall lift hill, took the record of the tallest fastest looping coaster in the world. 



Then in 1990 Viper with a lift hill one hundred and eighty-eight feet tall opened as the new record holder.



Viper just like the Scream Machine and Shockwave that came before it has a spiraling first drop and then three vertical loops before speeding into the mid course brake.  From there you have a drop followed by a "batwing" boomerang like double inversion before finishing up with a classic corkscrew.



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Paul B. Drabek