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The Racer is a rare racing coaster with a single continuous track.  This design element makes it so Kennywood has to race the coaster.  With a single track when you start out on the left side of the station you will end up on the right side of the station when the ride is done.



Having been thrilling visitors to Kennywood for ninety-eight years you can't say that The Racer isn't a great ride.



On this visit The Racer gave me one memorable ride.  Since Bond started riding when he was nine in 2009 I have wanted to hand slap him on a coaster.  There are only a handful of racing coasters where the trains come close enough for riders on different trains to be able to slap hands with those on the other track.  The two in North America that you can hand slap on are Gemini at Cedar Point and The Racer.  Bond and I almost got to hand slap on Gemini but about five seconds before we did his track shut down stranding him on the lift for an hour denying us that little bucket list side quest.  This time it took us two laps on The Racer before we finally got to hand slap.  Check off that bucket list item.



Our next stop at Kennywood is the parks oldest coaster the Jack Rabbit.



The Jack Rabbit was designed by John Miller and still has only a grab bar and a seat belt holding you in.  It's lasted a hundred and five years that way safely, so why change.



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Paul B. Drabek