Cedar Point Celebrates 10 Years Of Top Thrill Dragster

In 2003, Cedar Point opened the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world at the time with Top Thrill Dragster. Built by coaster manufacturer Intamin AG of Switzerland, this 17 second ride will leave you never doubting the laws of physics ever again! After you're seated in one of Dragster's six trains, you are released from the loading platform and are then stopped in front of a Christmas Tree (a set of lights that are found on a dragstrip that once the green light is lit, you take off!). At the green light, you are launched out of the station going from 0 to 120mph in 4 seconds! If this isn't high-speed rail in an amusement park, I don't know what is!!! After reaching top speed, you are sent straight up to the top of Dragster's impressive 420ft tall tower which for a brief second or two, allows for a spectacular overhead view of the park once up top. Once you reach the top, you then head straight down through one twist and then quickly go back to level track and past the finish line, then head back to the loading platform. Though it is no longer the world record holder, this coaster is still the tallest in the park, dwarfing its next tallest counterpart, Millennium Force by a whopping 110ft! Included here are some photos of this amazing work of modern engineering from this year and in recent years. These photos only tell a part of the story of this amazing ride, to really experience it, you need to get to Cedar Point by car or train and ride this monster for yourself. Enjoy...

This photo shows one of Dragster's trains having just been launched out of the station. To freeze this image, I had to set the camera's
shutter speed at 1/3200th of a second at ISO 1600, so don't be fooled, this coaster was flying when it passed me!!!

Picking up speed! In this photo, you can also see Millennium Force in action in the background!

At a point where the ride is nearly at its top speed of 120mph, this view, hidden between 2 big trees shows Dragster with
Millennium Force's track in the background.

Now beginning its decent up the 420ft tall tower!!!

Wow, this coaster is tall!!!! Wait! It's only 420 feet up, not that high!!!

In the above pair of 2011 photos of the amazing tower on this ride, you get a sense of just how tall this ride truly is!!!

In the above pair of 2012 views of the ride, we see one of the trains about to enter and just after passing through the ride's
signature vertical twist on the way back down from the 420ft top height of the ride's tower!

Crossing the "Finish Line", Dragster heads back towards the loading platform after one incredible adrenaline rush!!!

This dragster is on display near the ride. Not sure I could ever drive that!

This sign is located next to the coaster track on the way to the entrance gate.

Utilizing the ride's camera flash used for the on-ride photo, this "ghost image" of the ride in action was possible in this 2012 view.

A closer view of a "ghost image" of the coaster train using the ride's camera flash.