Alan Schilke is an American engineer and roller coaster designer. Since the beginning of his career, it was obvious that he thought outside the box. Getting his start with Arrow Dynamics where he built a few of their best towards the end of their run. Since then he has done work for S&S – Sansei Technologies and most notably Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC). He is also one of the founders of Ride Centerline LLC.
Alan Schilke works for Arrow Dynamics
Alan’s first credit as a designer came with the classic Road Runner Express at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Next up came what many consider to be the best of the Arrow Loopers in Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood. Most of the Arrow Loopers haven’t aged well. Something about Alan Schilke’s design, even this early on was a cut above. But it would be his third project which would make him famous.
Alan Schilke Designs X
X was a controversial coaster when he was designing it. Dubbed a 4th dimension coaster as it has riders sit on the left and the right of the track. Then the seats would be flipped depending on which part of the track the train was on. Arrow was an older company at the time and the project was so ambitious that it led to their final bankruptcy. X, or as it is now known, X2, at Six Flags Magic Mountain is considered one of the greatest roller coasters today. Also, it had a huge effect on the industry. All the S&S 4D Free Spins are children of X. Because they are smaller models of what he was trying to do with X. A few more of this exact ride model of X were built but they remain so expensive that few parks have the resources to build one.
Alan Schilke goes to work for S&S
Alan began working on their newly formed wooden coaster division. Designing in total 4 of them for S&S before he would have another defining project in Eejanaika at Fuji-Q Highland. This is another 4 Dimension Coaster like X. An interesting one Alan did during his time at S&S was Steel Hog at Indiana Beach. This was the first of a model called El Loco from S&S. They are relatively cheap but high thrilling coasters.
Rocky Mountain Construction and New Texas Giant
It is when Alan Schilke began consulting work for Rocky Mountain Construction that coaster enthusiasts would begin the hero worship. From the first drop, it was obvious that what RMC and Alan were doing was revolutionizing the coaster industry. Why not take aging and rough wooden coasters and use their structure as the bones of a new roller coaster? They convinced Six Flags Over Texas to give them their first shot with Texas Giant. They would revamp it with RMC’s new track called the I-Box track. It is a steel track that sits on top of a wood track. This allows them to produce elements never before seen on wooden coasters. Winner of the Golden Ticket award for the best new coaster when it premiered New Texas Giant was a smash hit!
Hit after hit, then Steel Vengance
Outlaw Run was second in Alan Schilke’s resume for RMC. Outlaw Run took the coaster community by storm. It was a wooden coaster with 3 inversions! After Outlaw Run whatever RMC did people would get excited about it. Hit after hit until 2018 when he designed as of this writing, his masterpiece. Steel Vengeance at Cedar point is the crown jewel of their collection. Top speed of 74 MPH, 4 Inversions, and standing at 205 feet tall this is a behemoth. Even Alan Schilke himself agrees that it is his best work.
No Final Break Run in Sight.
Alan Schilke shows no signs of slowing down. The recent success of the RMC Raptor models has a couple appearing every year. Raptors are popular single-rail coasters like Wonder Woman Golden Lasso at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. What will be interesting to see is if he has a coaster lurking somewhere in that brain that will dethrone Steel Vengeance. I have no doubt that he will. Maybe the T-Rex track will allow him to do that. T-Rex track is a much larger version of the Raptor track. He has raised the bar on roller coasters so much as it is. Let’s hope he continues to raise it higher and higher.
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