Whizzer

Whizzer (originally known as Willard's Whizzer) is a Schwarzkopf Speedracer roller coaster which is an opening day attraction at both Great America parks. Originally named after the founder of Marriott, J. Willard Marriott, Whizzer is one of the last Speedracer roller coasters in existence.

History
Present since the very early stages of design, Willard's Whizzer debuted as one of three opening day roller coasters, along with Turn of the Century in County Fair and Gulf Coaster in Orleans Place. Whizzer was named after J. Willard Marriott, founder of the Marriott corporation and father of the then CEO of Marriott, J. Willard "Bill" Marriott. Whizzer was designed to operate as many as five trains at a time and operated at a measly 42mph.

Whizzer initially suffered from various braking issues. These issues culminated in an accident described below in the Santa Clara park. Following this, a massive overhaul of the braking system was done and various changes to the ride were made such as reducing the number of cars operated from 5 to 3 and adding seatbelts. Whizzer's name was also changed from "Willard's Whizzer" to simply "Whizzer".

In 1988, Santa Clara's Great America announced the removal of Whizzer after only 12 years of operation. It is believed stigma from these incidents were the motive as Whizzer was removed without replacement.

In 2002, Gurnee's Great America announced the closure of Whizzer to make way for Superman: Ultimate Flight. Citing high maintenance costs, Gurnee sought to replace the roller coaster with a new coaster and signaled that August 11 would be the last day to ride Whizzer. Following massive backlash and public outcry, park officials reversed this decision and instead replaced the newer and bigger Shockwave instead.

Accidents
When Whizzer originally opened, it suffered from braking issues. Following the incident described below, employees described Whizzer negatively and stated that it went down for maintenance regularly.

On March 29, 1980 at 7pm, two trains collided in the station of Santa Clara's Whizzer. 13 year old Kyle Foss from Palo Alto, California, was boarding Whizzer at the loading station when the trains collided. He was thrown off the train and was subsequently run over by the train cars. Initial reports were contradictory. For example, an unidentified employee told newspapers that a train slowed down during descent near the river by Whizzer and that the train impact threw at least 2 passengers into the river and 1, Foss, into some rocks. Final reports indicated that the accident actually occurred while the trains were in the station. Foss was with a group of friends and was rushed to El Camino Hospital where he later died. Elizabeth Foss, Kyle Foss' mother, was alerted by one of Kyle's friends' parents and arrived at the hospital at 9:30pm. After the incident, Elizabeth Foss sued the Marriott Corporation and settled out of court for $11 million ($36 million in 2022, adjusted for inflation) in January 1981. Other lawsuits were also filed by Mrs. Foss.

After this incident, the Consumer Product Safety Commission launched an investigation where it was discovered that Whizzer had known braking issues with the earliest incident of a collision in the station being recorded in Gurnee's Whizzer on July 24, 1976, less than two months after the Gurnee park opened. Prior to that, Whizzer had collided at least 11 times in Santa Clara (resulting in an unknown amount of injuries) and twice in Gurnee (resulting in 31 injuries). In January 1981, Marriott was fined $70,000 but not charged with anything in exchange for Marriott dropping a lawsuit against CPSC claiming that it should not have jurisdiction over roller coasters as they were not consumer products. CPSC lost jurisdiction over roller coaster regulation later that year, in August 1981, following federal legislation. The retired CPSC investigator who oversaw the investigation into the Whizzer accident, Albert Limberg, claimed in a 1997 California hearing that this was the direct result of the accident on Willard's Whizzer which resulted in the "amusement park industry lobbying for a bill approved by Congress in 1981 that exempted parks from reporting potential hazards to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which until then regulated such hazards."

Following the incident, major changes were made to the breaking system, the number of trains which operated simultaneously dropped from 5 to 3, and seatbelts were added to Whizzer (due to it's original speed of 40mph, seatbelts weren't initially installed on Whizzer). Whizzer was also renamed from Willard's Whizzer to simply Whizzer. By August of 1980, Whizzer had completed all upgrades needed.

Whizzer has not seen any major issues since then and continues to run reliably in Gurnee.