American Eagle

American Eagle is a wooden racing roller coaster located at Six Flags Great America theme park in Gurnee, Illinois. It was the first wooden roller coaster designed by Intamin of Switzerland and was built in 1981 by the contracting firm Figley-Wright at a cost of $10 million. While most of the records have since been broken, American Eagle had the longest drop and fastest speeds among wooden roller coasters when it debuted and is still recognized as a top racing coaster in the United States. History Construction of American Eagle began in June 1980. The attraction was built with approximately of lumber, 129,720 bolts, and of nails. Supports are attached to approximately 2,000 concrete footings that average in diameter and are deep. American Eagle was painted with over of white paint and took over 20,000 man hours to build. American Eagle was designed by Curtis D. Summers, James Figley, and Leonard Wright. Marriott originally contacted John C. Allen to design the coaster, but he did not want to attempt it. American Eagle cost $10 million to construct and opened to the public on May 23, 1981.