The Racer

The Racer is a set of dueling wooden coasters located in the Coney Mall section of Kings Island. It is one of the few rides in the park that has remained open since it debuted with the park in 1972, especially when regarding rides that have simply been rethemed like Woodstock Express. The ride gets its name from the dual tracks that are marked by sets of red or blue cars. For a significant period of time, one of the coaster cars were set to travel backwards. However, the cars were later reverted to their original position in 2008, shortly after Cedar Fair assumed control of the park.

History
The Racer is one of the oldest rides in the park, as it opened with the park in 1972 and continues operation more than forty five years later. During its construction, amusement parks were struggling with the fact that many guests had lost interest in roller coasters. The Racer actually managed to be vital in returning popularity to coasters, resulting in the construction of other wood coasters at sister parks such as Kings Dominion and Carowinds.

During the 2018-2021 off-seasons, Kings Island announced that they had been performing extensive refurbishments on the coaster to replace older planks of wood, in order to keep the coaster functioning safely for guests, and to provide a safer and smoother ride experience. In particular, track on the turning segments of the coaster was replaced.

In 2021, the original sign at the entrance and Red/Blue Racer logos on the trains returned.

During the 2021-2022 off season the ride got repainted for the parks 50th anniversary celebration.

Ride Experience
The Racer​ begins with both the red and blue trains departing from their loading stations and doing a U-turn to approach the lift hill. Both trains are sitting next to each other as the go through the lift hill, as well as the several subsequent hills. As the coaster goes up and down two more hills, the cars begin to branch off, seperating around the area that housed the former Action Theater​, before turning around and going up and down a few more hills before returning to the loading station.

Trivia

 * As the name suggests, The Racer does not have a theme, and is merely focused on watching which side can return to the loading station first. The results are usually the same.
 * It's worth noting that one can see many props that are meant to be hidden if they look closely while riding The Racer. Even more notable is the fact that the now closed Action Theater building can be seen, with several Halloween Haunt decorations being stored there.
 * For a significant period of time, starting on May 28, 1982, The Racer began operating the cars on the right track backwards, being the first racing coaster to do so. This was supposed to last only for the 1982 season, but it proved to be so popular that it remained that way for twenty five years before Cedar Fair acquired the park and reverted the coaster to its original format for the 2008 season.