TTD down long term?

I am assuming those are the brake fins for the actual catch car, not the roll back fins?

either way, impressive. go big or go home I guess

And there it is. Wow; so Cedar Point is cool with members of the maintenance team just putting this out there? I have never heard of "ride this one" before, but that's some interesting backstage footage to say the least.

That looks like it hurt.

Whelp, someone's getting in trouble.

I always wondered what slowed the catch car.. ouch

A lot of you guys come and start to mention you know hints of something but than say "but I cant share" Did you sign a legally bonded contracted stating that action will be taken if in fact you did say something? I under stand if you work for the park but if you are just the GP and someone told you something, what does it matter? No one is asking for the social security number of the person who spilt the beans to you. I am not trying to stir the pot, and it is not directed at one person or topic. I am legitimately wondering because I see this come up more often then not on this site and I always scratch my head

Why even bring something up if you cant tell the entire story?

Some people like to boast, some don't. But I agree that even mentioning having knowledge of any situation like this is just as bad as posting pics the park probably doesn't want public. If you know something, or someone you know has direct knowledge of stuff like this, just keep it to yourself. Sharing those details may not seem like a big deal to you, but you're not Cedar Point and it's a huge disrespect of trust.

No one is getting an award for having inside sources.

I wonder what would cause the catch car to become misaligned with the fins? Failure of a guide wheel?

I don't know how reliable of a source that is, but if that is Dragster, I can easily see it not operating again this season. I think alot of things will need to be rebuilt.

The thing that I see as it might being fake is why would parts melt? bent yes, unless the catch car got misaligned and hit the fins with such force it fused parts together. The burnt part looks like a brake fin but I cant say it seems like other parts "melted to it. Also if that's what the fins look like I would tend to believe there would/should be damage to the surrounding track sections in the area of this mishap. A picture of damaged track at the area the catch car should come to a rest shouldn't be hard to snap when the park is open, unless they have a tarp over it

wouldn't this be a good time to switch dragster over to a magnetic launch. Could a magnetic launch be strong enough to send the car that high?

(more than likely they will repair the parts needed)

I have brought this up both on this and over on our Great Adventure forum for KK and people insist the magnetic system wouldn't be powerful enough. Id like to see a facts based answer though

This is from Wikipedia (sigh, I know)...but it does describe the "bolt failure" that happened with Kingda Ka back in 2005. Well, as best as one would expect from Wiki. The lesson; when something bad happens at 120 mph, well...it's not good.

On June 8, 2005, a bolt failed inside a trough that the launch cable travels through. This caused the liner to come loose creating

Damage occurred to the launch cable which was frayed and required replacement, to the engine including minor damage to seals, and to many of the brake fins. The brake fins in the launch section are mounted to keep fast-moving trains from moving backward into the station. However, the fast-moving train being pulled forward caused an unexpected stress on a number of fins bending them forward. Not all required replacement, but there were more damaged brake fins than Six Flags had replacements for. Extra brake fins had to be ordered from the manufacturer...

Well this is another incident that could have ended up being much worse. Remember when a chunk of metal just went flying off landing somewhere in the grass on the Gemini midway? (I could have the details wrong on that one).

Either way this is yet another disturbing event in the rides history. Seeing that the maintenance staff is one of the best in the business it becomes even more disturbing because we know that everything that can be done to make the ride safe is being done.

I don't know if this could have hurt someone, but it does look as if that could have been a possibility.

In terms of damage to the track this might be something I never noticed before or just have been shadows from the time of day so if anybody can confirm what I saw that would be great. When riding Rougarou on Sunday afternoon I looked over at Dragster and part of the track by the launch building appeared to be like a dark grey almost as if they metal had been heated up and burned maybe? I didn't get that good of a look and it might be shadows or my eyes tricking me or something so if anybody knows about what I saw or saw it themselves maybe they could clarify a little more.

The end of the launch track tends to get to be dirty (gray.) I'm guessing this is due to the water that's used to cool the catch car track getting ejected. Ever notice how there's water/a mist that gets sprayed out of the ride at that point?

The track by the launch track is always dirty (except for when it was brand new and immediately following the repaint) so that in itself is completely normal. I think it's grease. Not sure what exactly is greased. Catch car wheels? Cable? the trough that the catch car runs through? The pulleys right there that the cable spins? All of the above?

From the looks of it, I'm inclined to agree that this is yet another incident that could have been worse.

Dragster is a genuine feat of engineering. SO many moving parts it amazes me that it ever operates. I bet they could launch it with magnets in the same foot print (the LI/SMs could climb the pullout if needed) I just doubt the acceleration would be as quick?

If this is indeed accurate, one can only assume that the park is evaluating the extent of the damage (and the potential for any repairs) before making any type of announcement.

That said, nothing of significance happened to any park patrons. If that had happened, it would certainly be on some type of news outlet at this point.

Given that the only "news" is circulating amongst enthusiasts, it's most likely that the park will say very little beyond the vague "Top Thrill Dragster will unfortunately be closed for repairs...sorry folks!"

It's also possible they will say nothing at all.

I would be surprised if it didn't open before the end of the season. They desperately need all the capacity they can get during Halloweekends.

Eh I'm sure they'll just open up Steel Vengeance early to make up for the capacity, thereby making Team 2017"correct! ;)