The Coney Island Cyclone, built in Brooklyn in 1927, was the brainchild of two Russian immigrant brothers, Jack and Irving Rosenthal. It was built near the site of the nation’s first commercially successful coaster, the 1884 Switchback Railway. The Rosenthal brothers continued as innovators in the amusement industry, managing and later owning the successful Palisades Amusement Park in Bergen County, New Jersey. The Cyclone roller coaster would go on to outlive all of its rival Golden Age coasters.
The Cyclone was declared a New York City landmark in 1988, along with the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the World Trade Center. In 1991, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today the Cyclone is the only operational wooden roller coaster left on Coney Island and one of the last Golden Age rollers in the world.
The Cyclone is classified as a “gravity ride of the wooden track twister type.” A chain carries the three 4,000-pound, eight-person cars up to the first and highest plunge of 85 feet. After the initial drop, the cars then travel on their own momentum for the duration of the ride. The little cars speed along 2,640 feet of track, twisting through 6 turns and 12 drops. Riders are subjected to 3.75 g of force as the cars approach speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. It’s all over in just a minute and fifty seconds.
On its annual opening day, the Cyclone celebrates with speeches, dedications and a traditional egg cream christening of the front car by Brooklyn’s Borough President. The park offers free admission for the first 100 Cyclone riders, with some people even queueing up the night before to be the first to ride.
There have been so many tales told about the Cyclone that it is sometimes hard to tell fact from fiction. Famous American aviator Charles Lindbergh has been quoted as saying that his ride on the Cyclone was more thrilling than his historic first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. (Whether that was true or not, it did make for great publicity.)