RideZone's Lightning RacerTM select photos
A New Racing/Dueling Wood Roller Coaster at Hersheypark® in Hershey, PA
May 13/14, 2000 Photos

by Joel Styer

Note: Due to the large number of photos on this page, it may take a long time to load

Ground view of station

Ground view of magnificent Lightning Racer station.

Overhead view of station

Overhead view of the Lightning Racer station.

Inside the station

Inside of station.

Train in station

Train is soon ready to depart from the station.

Thunder train on curve

Thunder screams around a corner to meet up with Lightning.

Banked Lightning train

No flat track here as Lightning speeds away.

Structure overview

Lightning Racer has to be one of the most majestic of coasters.

Racing back to the finish line

Both race back to the station.

Lightning wins

Front seat rider in Lightning is poking fun at Thunder who came in a distant second in this race.

Dueling at the station end

Dueling beside the station. Thunder and Lightning just miss each other.

Dueling aerial shot

Station end of ride shows a mass of wood.

Racing aerial shot

The middle of the ride shows an even bigger mass of wood.

Aerial shot

This view shows how the ride is basically a double out and back but deserves the term wood twister much more.

Closeup of trains on first drop

Here we see just how evenly the trains are matched on the first drop.

Thunder train

Thunder has just finished dueling with Lightning and is racing to the other end of the ride to do it again.

Closer view of Thunder train

Close up of train where above shot was taken.

Structure overview

Another overview.

Head on

The final duel. Sure looks like they're gonna hit.

Heading for the duel

Heading for the duel.

First drop

Above we see the impressive amount of wood used.

 

Heading for another duel

The last duel is about to begin.

Cuving toward the tunnel

The trains turn around to enter the tunnel which will hold a surprise for future visitors.

Article and pictures are ©2000 by Joel Styer. All photos taken May 13/14, 2000

© 2000-2004 Joel W Styer. All rights reserved. Updated Sunday, January 18, 2004
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Lightning Racer is a trademark of Hershey Entertainment & Resorts
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Hersheypark is a registered trademark of Hershey Entertainment & Resorts