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saw the steel being unloaded from the trucks with no straight sections, every piece beautifully crafted and curved …that guaranteed non-stop action on the ride.”
Fighting Mother Nature
Erecting Wicked Cyclone took 10 months. “Our amazing team along with RMC was relentless in ensuring this ride would be ready and open for our guests by Memorial Day Weekend [late May],”
recalls Winkler. “Every day counted. This past winter was very challenging. We had record snow fall and temperatures in the bitter cold all the way through April. Our team unselfishly worked right through it and would not allow Mother Nature to stand in their way.” According to Winkler, the addition of Wicked Cyclone is already affecting the park. “Wicked Cyclone makes our large arsenal of thrill rides even more powerful. We track very heavily our social media channels for increased engagement and guest awareness. Currently the interest for Wicked Cyclone is very high and we definitely feel this is going to be a game changer for our park. Also, as the height requirement is 48 inches [1.2m], it allows a new generation and larger crowd mix to experience this very intense yet ultra-smooth ride.”
“Creating a hybrid coaster is a unique project,” Winkler concludes. “It allows parks to create something unique in the original foot print of a classic ride. Working with RMC has allowed us to create a coaster with over 95% of the materials made right here in the United States. We are very proud of that. Rocky Mountain Construction is the pioneer of this hybrid coaster technology. The team was fantastic in the planning and execution.”
sixflags.com/newengland
Rocky Mountain Construction B
Rocky Mountain
Construction Group, supplier of both this
year’s Wicked Cyclone at Six Flags New England and Twisted Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain, was formed in 2001 by Fred Grubb and wife Suanne Dedmon. Park World explores how this family business hit upon one of the most refreshing new
rollercoaster construction techniques since the turn of the century
ased in Hayden, Idaho, Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) boasts over 20 years’ experience in the amusement park and ride fabrication business “My background from working as maintenance and construction director at Silverwood Theme Park as well as Suanne’s background being the finance director at Silverwood let us into the business of repairing traditional wood track as well as other theme park ride installs,” explains Fred. “We did many types of park construction such as waterpark design and build. Gary Norton, owner of Silverwood, had us continue to build Silverwood as our privately held company after we left. We would contract work there when they had work to be done. Gary has always been supportive. We also would build large steel buildings and other structures, anything to make a living.” Trained as a carpenter and welder, the 56-year-old Grubb started in the ‘80s building Silverwood’s two wooden coasters with Custom Coasters. In 2006 he worked with Intamin building El Toro, the prefabricated track ‘woodie’ at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. RMC, founded in 2001, is privately held by Dedmon and Grubb. They started in their garage with four people and one welding machine. They now employ just over 100, including daughter Amy Garcia who is now an integral part of the team. In 2008, noted coaster engineer Alan Schilke collaborated with Fred
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to design two new revolutionary track technologies: the Topper and I-Box. These two new track systems have taken the rollercoaster sector by storm.
Texas Giant
RMC first caught the amusement industry’s attention in 2011 with the rebuild of the Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, featuring I-box track. Two years later the company unveiled a barrel roll for the refurbished Iron Rattler hybrid at San Antonio’s Six Flags Fiesta Texas, followed by the three-inversion Outlaw Run with Topper track at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri.
RMC founders Fred Grubb and Suanne Dedmon JULY 2015
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