WEST MIFFLIN, PA. Enthusiasts honor Kennywood, wooden coaster

The Thunderbolt is in the Top 5 list for best wooden coasters in the country.
WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. (AP) -- Four roller coaster enthusiasts braved 35 trips on a wooden coaster in a western Pennsylvania roller coaster that has been consistently ranked among the nation's best -- once for every year the coaster has raced around the track.
"After the first four or five, I was thinking that maybe I had made an error at 51 years of age," said Mark Eaton, of Laverne, Calif. "After about 10 or 11, you get used to knowing when to lean left and when to lean right. So you learn as you go. ... I don't know if my body will agree with me tomorrow morning."
Eaton was among 228 members of the American Coaster Enthusiasts who had free reign of Kennywood Park in suburban Pittsburgh on Sunday.
He and three others rode for 21/2 hours on the Thunderbolt, which has been ranked as one of the top five wooden coasters in the country -- including the No. 1 in 1996, 1997 and 2000 -- by members of the National Amusement Park Historical Association.
Eaton, who estimates he has ridden on more than 100 coasters in the past 15 years, said the Thunderbolt is unique because unlike others it begins with a drop rather than a climb and has its largest drop -- 90 feet -- at the end.
"Some people can sit in a chair on their day off and relax by reading a book. I drive cars fast. I like looping airplanes," Eaton said.
According to Kennywood's Web site, the half-mile-long Thunderbolt was pieced together from an older coaster, the Pippin, in 1968.