Belmont Park

In 1998, Belmont Park in San Diego hosted a marathon called Whirl 'til You Hurl, where riders stayed aboard the wooden Giant Dipper roller coaster lap after lap for ten straight weeks, chasing a car as the prize. The guide traces the ride back to businessman John D. Spreckels, who built it in 1925 to sell real estate along the new Mission Beach boardwalk, and the fire, bankruptcy and shutdown that nearly finished it by the mid-1970s. You'll hear about Tim Cole, who first rode the coaster as an eighth grader and later spent twelve years fighting to save it from demolition. Stand at the base of the white lattice frame and listen for the ratchet-clack of the lift hill overhead.