The carts ascend up the metal tracks to the heavens, to once again plummet back to Earth with the sounds of 1000 individual screams. Curt Ebersole, teacher in the Music Department, is a roller coaster fanatic; a total “nerd” when it comes to metal carts that go as fast as the speed of sound.

Ebersole did not become a fan until his mid-20s and it all happened at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. When he was waiting in line to endure the speed of a metal cart on wheels, he started to pick up a conversation with someone in front of him. The man he was speaking to was from a convention back in Baltimore which organizes trips to go to different parks in one day.

That one conversation made Ebersole decide that he wanted to do something like that, so in 2002, he did. He went, in a span of one week, to eight parks: Knoebels, Kennywood Park, Geauga Lake, Cedar Point, Lakemont Park, Hershey Park, Dorney Park and Rye Playland. He traveled over three states (Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York) and went to three parks in one day (Kennywood Park, Geauga Lake and Cedar Point).

Even though, Ebersole did not become a roller coaster fan until his 20s, his tracks toward riding were set early on. When Ebersole was little, his father would go up and down the hills as fast as he could on the way to his grandparent’s house. Ebersole said that he likes the feeling of weightlessness and when his stomach drops.

Readers can coast into his roller coasters shrine of devotion at http://jce.ebernet.biz/roller-coasters/. Here, he lists his all-time top 10 roller coasters for “steelies” (steel tracks) and “woodies” (wood tracks). His decision for which coaster is better than the others is determined by its speed and smoothness. Ebersole might be busy at the moment but he always finds a way to keep himself updated and aware on all the coaster news out there. As a member of American Coaster Enthusiasts, he gets updates from a magazine sent to him quarterly.

Although he is currently occupied with school work, roller coasters are his life. “As long as I am healthy enough to endure, them, I will keep on riding,” Ebersole said.

To look up more information on rollercoasters, visit Roller Coaster Data Base at  http://rcdb.com/