Timber Wolf Turns 29: A Retrospect on Timber Wolf's Run for Number One

Every March for the last several years, I have had multiple conundrums.  The upcoming month of anniversaries is upon me and somehow, I have to come up with something new and unique to say about many rides that have been around for twenty plus years.  After twenty years of writing, you would think I would run out of things to say about roller coasters such as Timber Wolf, Orient Express or Mamba. sometimes it's hard, sometimes inspiration comes from the oddest places.  The other day my plans were to share an excerpt from a Kansas City Star article for Timber Wolf’s upcoming birthday, which you are most likely reading on the actual birthday of April 1^st.  I thought I would also come up with something witty, since it also happens to be Easter AND April Fools Day too.  Instead, someone made a comment to me on Worlds of Fun’s Facebook and it took me to an entirely new dimension.  It made me think how many thought about history in general, how many of us, including myself at one point thought about it.  Dates, years and numbers.  Stupid and annoying to most, fascinating to those few crazy people that LIKE history.  Maybe I could help you the reader understand a little bit of why it’s so fascinating.

An early aerial view of Timberwolf.

For those that have done crosswords or puzzles of any sort, you know the feeling when you make a connection; where one piece fits into another and allows you to see a bit of the bigger picture? That’s how dates and years work. They are pieces of a bigger picture.  April 1, 1989 was the day Timber Wolf opened, but it is also the day Timber Wolf opened.  The first day that the smell of grease and wood welcomed visitors to Worlds of Fun, maybe not the first time Timberwolf unleashed its schizophrenic personality on a rider, but certainly the first time it did so to unprepared guests.  Timber Wolf always has had a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personally, going back to March 31, 1989. The press rode the Timber Wolf for the first time and reviews began to pour in.  That amazing, fearsome “Harry Traver-style” first half, and then the anti-climatic second half.  Thankfully, that anti-climatic half has quite literally been sawed in half a few months ago and looks to be replaced by a helix worthy of its Mr. Hyde personality. 

Back to the topic at hand though.  April 1, 1989 is not just a date, it was the date we were all introduced to Timber Wolf.  Timber Wolf, a coaster that would climb to the pinnacle of coasters, and be the first and only Worlds of Fun coaster to be ranked #1 in the world.  That my friends is where the problem resides.  A lot of people, mistakenly, assume it was ranked #1 in 1989, the year it opened.  Or possibly 1990.  Funny enough,  it was ranked #2 those two years, by the reader’s of “Inside Track”.  It didn’t hit #1 until three years after it opened in 1991.  Now, why is that important?  Am I am little stir crazy in the mind for making that such a big deal?  Okay, I will admit to being a little crazy; that is besides that point, it IS important.  Because it's all part of the story, and NOT just dates on a page. 

John Hudacek, General Manager of the park at the time is on the left in this promotional shot.  I keep hoping the park will re-make these hats, I so want one!

Why?  Let me share with you one of my favorite excerpts on Timber Wolf from the Kansas City Star, April 5, 1991 (The article interviewed General Manager, John Hudacek, in regards to the upcoming 1991 season):

“Of the factors that are out of Worlds of Fun’s control the one that interests Hudacek the most is the Timber Wolf’s reputation.  Two new wooden roller coasters will open this year, including one at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio that is said to be the world’s tallest and longest. The competition will be tough but Hudacek has high hopes.

What we did was introduce at various points throughout the ride the elements that distinguish a great roller coaster from a mediocre roller coaster he said.  Even though there were new roller coasters in 1990 we were still second best.  We think we can create the same excitement as a ride 20 or 30 feet higher because of the unexpected turns and acceleration.

In a lot of cases they’re spending three or four times what we spent on Timber Wolf.  But we are confident we’ll hold our position in the top five”

 Triplett III, Ward W. (1991, April 5), “Worlds of Fun is Ready to Roll” Kansas City Star p. H3

The sign that stood at Worlds of Fun Avenue and Parvin Road for several years.  I spent almost a decade trying to find a copy of this photo, as I always loved the sign!

History will not deny the fact that Timber Wolf was riding on the crest of a wave of new wooden coasters of the 1990’s, it was one of the very first new wooden coasters built.  Two years later in 1991, two giant wooden monsters had been built specifically to capture the number one spot, Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas and Mean Streak, now Steel Vengeance RMC (Rocky Mountain Construction) at Cedar Point.  The point is, Timber Wolf was not ONLY a part of the new wooden coaster revolution, it ALSO vaulted to the top number one spot even when bigger, faster, taller and more expensive coasters were built.  Simply put, by Timber Wolf being voted #1 in 1991 not 1989 it beat coasters it was never intended to beat!  Royals of 2015 anyone?    THIS is why it's so important to remark that Timber Wolf was #1 in 1991, not 1989, not so much because of the year, but because of what it beat to get there.   Timberwolf was and still is not the biggest, meanest coaster out there. It was never built to be, but it had where it counts, and that was enough to even exceed its own builder’s expectations.

Mamba Poised to Strike: 20 Years Later March 1998-2018

Back in September, I started with such high hopes of covering 20 years of Mamba construction over the eight months that it took from announcement to reality.  Of course, what I didn't expect, is that building and moving to a new house during that time would involve ALL of my time.  Once we got moved in and started unpacking boxes that had been "lost" in storage for two years I began to think, if we are going to do this we should do it right and actually scan all the original photos instead of sharing the poor quality, low-resolution store scanned files.

Finally, last week I bought a new scanner and my very first scan was a Mamba construction photo, followed by, to date, about 120 more.  Which is why you are reading what you are reading right now.  However, before we get into what was going on exactly twenty years ago, I thought I would stop and reminiscence on the fact as to WHY it took so long to get the photos up.

Twenty years ago there were very few digital cameras, they existed yes, but cost far out of the range of the normal photographer, and consisted of a dollar amount that could easily buy a decent car.  Twenty years ago, there were also no smartphones, no camera phones, no Facebook or Twitter or even YouTube (gasp!), and the internet was in its infancy.  In fact, the PalmPilot the archaic predecessor of the smartphone had only come out a year earlier! Mamba construction was not shot digitally it was shot using a film camera, in which the film had to be bought, placed in the camera, shot, rewound, taken out (but not before it was rewound or you would ruin the photo!), driven to a photography store that would take the film and develop it rather quickly compared to the old days (only two days!).  When you went to pick up photos, the store would then hand you back an envelope of photos, with the negatives and a CD with "high resolution" DIGITAL photos!  Of course, "high resolution" then was on par with a gigantic ONE Gigabyte harddrive then too.  Which is why those high-resolution photos then are crummy, grainy low-resolution photos in this day in age.  So when I wanted to provide quality Mamba construction photos from twenty years ago, it meant I had to re-scan the paper photos form twenty years ago too.  Today, I can easily shoot a photo on my iPhone and post it online in a matter of seconds. I wrote that last paragraph not only to remind this writer but everyone else how great technological leap forward we have made in the last twenty years and WHY it has taken me so long to finally start getting these photos online!

Consider that last paragraph a prequel to the editorial to come on April 26th, because Mamba itself, just like the film camera that shot its construction would quite literally straddle the world of the old and new.

However that's looking into the future, lets once again look back to the past, in this case, twenty years exactly, March 1998.

No major action, but just an awesomely large wrench.

The second hill takes shape.

A few weeks later the second hill is done, shot from the top of Timberwolf.

The station starting to become vertical.

The base of the lift hill, incomplete and without a chain or lift drive.

Moving on to the helix, an "oops" shot, or what we like to jokingly refer to the "A Perfect

Fit Every Time" since that was Morgan Manufacturing's advertising line at the time.  Obviously not always.  Obviously, this was fixed before Mamba ever ran!

A different view showing the still incomplete B-Block.

Track waiting to be placed in the helix.

Air compressor down by B-Block.  I call it the evil air compressor as it powers, among other things, the B-Block brakes.  

 Take a look at a hundred plus more photos shot throughout the month of March 1998 here!