The fastest steel roller coaster is the Kingda Ka coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. It travels at 128 miles per hour (206 kilometers per hour). The fastest wooden roller coaster is at Kings Island in Ohio — the Son of Beast races the tracks at 78.4 miles per hour (126.2 kilometers per hour). This wooden roller coaster also was the only "woodie" to have a vertical loop, but that was taken out in 2006 as a safety precaution.
More Coaster Facts:
- The Kingda Ka isn't only the fastest roller coaster in the world, it is also the tallest, measuring in at 418 feet (127 meters).
- The first steel roller coaster was the Matterhorn at Disneyland. The roller coaster opened in 1959.
- The roller coaster first flipped upside down in 1975 when the Corkscrew opened at Knott's Berry Farm California.
- The roller coaster park with the most coasters is the Cedar Point park in Ohio. It boasts 17 roller coasters and is home to four roller coasters that are more than 200 feet (61 meters) tall, including the second tallest roller coaster in the world, the Top Thrill Dragster, which measures 400 feet (120 meters).