Jack Rabbit vs. Racer at Kennywood

My 2 favorite Wooden Coasters at Kennywood are Jack Rabbit and Racer. While I prefer Racer, I do want to do an overall contest to see which is the better ride.

For this review, I am going to go over things that I think are important in a wooden coaster: Restraints, Smoothness, Airtime, Laterals, and, for the sake of making Racer stand a chance, interactivity with the surroundings.

Part 1: Restraints

Both of these rides have great restraints. Jack Rabbit, though, has slightly better restraints, in my opinion. Jack Rabbit has basically just a bar and a loose seatbelt. Racer has Buzz Bars and an individual Seatbelt. This is very close, though.

Part 2: Smoothness

These rides are both very smooth. In my experience, Racer has never had a rough patch at any point. Jack Rabbit, on the other hand, has a rough patch right after the second drop of the double dip, and that gave me a migraine for a couple minutes last time I rode. Racer gets this point.

Part 3: Airtime

Jack Rabbit takes this category by far. Racer has more moments of airtime, but not by much. Jack Rabbit also has the Strongest or Second Strongest moment of airtime in the park. The airtime off the Double Dip is very strong and sustained. I completely understand why this was the first coaster to use Upstop Wheels. There are also some more, weaker pops on every drop on the ride. Racer has more pops, but it only has one pop of ejector that is only somewhat sustained.

Part 4: Laterals

Jack Rabbit doesn't really have Laterals on the ride. All of the turns on Jack Rabbit are taken pretty slow, so it doesn't provide laterals, for the most part. Racer does provide some lateral G-Force, though. It has some high speed, barely banked turns. Racer gets this point.

Part 5: Interactivity with Surroundings

Racer easily gets this point. Jack Rabbit does have a nice tunnel and used to have a tree it interacted with, but that was cut down, seemingly due to a risk of riders hitting it. Racer is interacting a lot with other trains and the structure, which makes this one of the best coasters for Interaction.

Final Score:

Of these 5 points, Racer gets 3 points and Jack Rabbit gets 2 points. I think that Racer is better overall.

I hope you enjoyed this. If you did, please share this article with friends and I hope you'll read this some other time, as well.