Coasting Through Life

Former test pilot Walt Smith spent several hours Monday whipping through high-speed vertical loops and fighting pressure that fluctuated between free fall and 4 Gs.

Sitting beside him the entire time was his wife, Evelyn.

This was not business back at the old stand for Smith. He and his wife were among nearly 500 members of American Coaster Enthusiasts spending two days at Six Flags Magic Mountain for ACE’s 17th annual roller- coaster convention.

“Most of the people I know don’t like these things,” said Evelyn Smith, 56, of Santa Ana. “I had to join a group like this to find people to talk about it.”

While Evelyn Smith says she is too timid to climb into an experimental plane with her husband, a former test pilot for McDonnell Douglas, she is an avid roller-coaster fan and plans to ride “as long as our neck muscles hold out.”

Her enjoyment of what she calls “controlled fear” contradicts her quiet appearance and that of the other ACE members. There are no leather flying helmets or other weird clothing to mark these people and their coaster calling.

Is it normal, though, to plan vacations around these wood and steel monoliths--visiting parks across the country and riding hundreds of different roller-coasters, again and again?

“I talked with a psychiatrist about 15 years ago. She said thrill-seekers need adrenaline,” said Ray Ueberroth, ACE president. “I know I enjoy looking at roller-coasters and anticipating what they’re going to do to my body.”

Ueberroth, 57, is a retired Maryland schoolteacher who said he has ridden more than 350 roller-coasters since his first at the age of 6. He remembers them all, but is continually surprised by new rides.

“Ten years ago, if you had told me I would have ridden on a coaster that had no floor, that looks like a ski lift gone berserk, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Ueberroth said, gesturing to the suspended track of Magic Mountain’s new Batman: The Ride.

ACE has more than 4,500 members in 15 countries, and a survey showed the average member has ridden more than 60 roller-coasters and visits five different parks each year. Many consider themselves “coaster connoisseurs,” evaluating individual rides as others do bottles of wine.

The Valencia theme park, delighted to support an organization devoted to spending a small fortune on amusement park rides, admitted the convention group two hours before the park’s opening Monday and today, so they could enjoy Batman and the venerable Colossus ride without waiting in lines of amateur riders.

The ACE members seemed awfully normal as they enjoyed their peculiar passion.

No pushing or shoving. Just lots of picture-taking, friendly debates over what makes a good ride and comparing notes about the best drops, curves and trains they’ve experienced.

Loops are popular and many agree they like long falls and sharp turns. Whether to sit in the front or back car brings out differences of personal taste, and arguments over the merits of wood versus metal are never-ending.

“This kind of ride is good steel,” said Mike McKinney, 40, gesturing to the Batman ride and its high-speed, spin-inducing track. The Vancouver resident has ridden nearly 200 roller-coasters, and quickly compares Valencia’s Batman ride to its twin in Chicago. “The pacing isn’t quite the same. This one has got another inversion that I liked, though.”

Other riders, such as 25-year-old Ken Toghia, long for the clickety-clack of older coasters and their extra vibrations.

“There’s something safer about a steel coaster,” he adds, making it clear that for an adrenaline-starved ACE stalwart, that’s too tame.

Just as every ride differs, so too do the reasons members have become involved in the group.

The desire to learn about the best roller-coasters is a common one, as are the social benefits of the group. Participants can sign up for trips and be paired with partners to share a hotel room and ride with. Many amusement parks also permit the group in before or after regular hours, allowing them to bypass lines.

“It’s like a living history for us,” said Toghia, a onetime ride operator at Disneyland. Older ACE members “talk to us and tell us about coasters that no longer exist.”

“You can start up a conversation with anybody,” said McKinney. “You know you’ve got something in common.”