The re-born steeplechase, dubbed Motorcycle Chase, featured four tracks and a winding, curving circuit. Subsequent re-design and consideration for disabled persons led to the debut of Wacky Soap Box Racers after only a year. This delightful ride featured animated characters that popped out of trashcans, doors that the cars slammed through, special effects, zany Spike Jones music, amusing sight gags and a slam-bang finale inside of Seymour Dud's Firework Factory, where incidentally, a 5th of July firework sale was taking place.

Sadly, this ride left us some time ago and with it went fond memories of Saturday night at the park with your date--snuggling up close in the tobaggan style seating of the racers; loving how you both screamed at that drop into the sewer tunnel. Memories indeed.

But change is good, and that original Roaring 20's theme was revamped into The Boardwalk, what is now the largest themed area at Knott's. A thorough re-naming of long-standing attractions took place and a striking new paint job seemingly possessed the area. Though I had semi-strong feelings about Walt Disney World's turning of Cinderella's Castle into a giant pink birthday cake for their 25th Anniversary celebration, there's no mistaking the utter dismay and shock I felt upon seeing the new paint job for the Parachute Sky Jump.

"Ugh." I said loud enough for anyone nearby to hear me. What a dreadful combination of red, yellow, blue and aquamarine, what have they done to my baby? The attendant at the Hit The Beach game was just as dismayed. "It was a lot better the other way."

But all bitching aside, it was time to check out the replacement for Wacky Soapbox Racers and utilizing the existing station design (you now enter the ride from where the exit stairs used to be), Knott's custom ordered the Togo designed Windjammer.

A unique steel racing coaster, Windjammer has two tracks, one red-one yellow, and little two-car trains that fit four passengers each. Decorated with surfboards that more closely resemble rocket jets, the cars climb the lift and afford a stunning view of The Boardwalk before plunging into the one and only inversion of the ride.

It's a nice drop, not a huge one--but it gives a pleasant feeling of "uh-oh" before careening into the loop. With only two cars in the train, there isn't a lot of give and take as you negotiate the inversion, so you're in and out of there in a flash, rising a crest and just-barely-coming over the rise and heading into the next drop.

The tracks twist under and over each other at this point, providing disorientating views as the track dips and undulates above the sand. This is a rough ride, your head will be ringing like a bee tree if you don't hold it forward.

Diving past the station, the cars enter a vortex and begin spiraling down towards the entrance queue before finishing up at the station. 'Twas a slow day in the park, so only the red side was running on this day, which is a shame. Part of the joy involved with watching a racing coaster is seeing one pull ahead and then the other. Apparently, some people have it figured out to a science who will win and who will pull ahead to seem like they're about to win, but then get their tails whupped. Alas, no race today. But I managed to get a few rides in before closing time.

Windjammer won't scare the pants off of you, but it will certainly offer up a slice of excitement (on a busy day) when you're racing against those idiots who have been cutting in front of you all day in line. That victory across the finish line is an element that's sorely missed in many single-track coasters today. Perhaps someone will bless us with the ultimate racing coaster, a full sized-beast of a coaster with six tracks and huge hills. The capacity would be great, lots of guest would move through it, the tracks could run independently of each other so you could just race adjacent two if the crowds are low. How come no-one has done this?

But I digress. Before closing time, I had the chance to take a quick spin on one of the neatest thrills in the park; Boomerang