Ronald Valentine Toomer's Influence On Roller Coasters

Ronald Valentine Toomer was born in 1930 and died in 2011. He is credited with building 93 roller coasters around the world. “He graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1961 with a degree in mechanical engineering and was a part of the design team responsible for the Apollo spacecraft heat shield. He was hired by Arrow Development in 1965 to design a mine train ride at Six Flags Over Texas.” “In 1981, Arrow Development was purchased by Huss Maschinenfabrik, which merged with Arrow Development to form Arrow-Huss. Toomer was made vice president and manager of engineering. In 1986, 13 of the company's American officers negotiated a buyout, and formed Arrow Dynamics to which Toomer was named president.” In 1993 he was promoted to chairman

He was considered to be “the sovereign of steel coasters”. He built the first roller coaster over 200 ft. (Magnum XL 200), the first roller coaster with interlocking loops (Loch Ness Monster), and the first modern looping roller coaster (Corkscrew). “During his stint in the space program, Toomer met a coworker who had previously been a welder for the Arrow Development Company.“Ron Toomer was hired by Arrow Dynamics, a roller coaster manufacturer, on the design of the Runaway Mine Ride, the world’s first all-steel coaster ”. This was a very good decision because Toomer was also one of the first people to use the clothoid loop found in almost all inverting roller coasters. Even though he suffered from motion sickness, Toomer designed many of the world's most iconic

The concept caught on quickly and Toomer designed 15 more mine train coasters for Arrow.” Unlike wooden coaster rails, which are generally formed using steel strips mounted on laminated wood, tubular steel can be easily bent in any direction, which allows designers to incorporate loops, corkscrews, and many other maneuvers into their designs. Most modern roller coasters are made of steel, although wooden coasters are still being built. Roller coasters all over the world are now using tubular steel tracks, even other roller coaster manufacturers, such as Bolliger And Mabillard, included them in almost, if not all rollercoasters they built which attract millions of tourists everyday. Toomer innovated steel coasters as well as wooden coasters such as Gemini. “When the ride opened, it was marketed as the tallest, fastest and steepest roller coaster in the