HEART CONDITION, MOTION SICKNESS, BACK PROBLEMSâ¦OR HAVE A BRAIN IN THEIR HEAD .
Roland and I went over every inch of the track. The coaster starts with an eighty-foot lifthill, which immediately drops you into a 360-degree loop, followed by a boomerang, a corkscrew, and seven inversions. The top speed reaches seventy-two miles per hour at one point. At the top of one of the loops, there are three Gs pulling on your body.
If the riders havenât lost their lunch by that point, they still have to make it through six turning vertical dives, a 53-degree, 115-foot drop, and a two-story spiral. Then the whole sequence is repeatedâbackward!
Itâs tough enough to ride the PsychoClone when youâre strapped into your seat, holding on for dear life. I would have to do it while a guy was trying to strangle me from behind with piano wire.
âItâs going to be a piece of cake, Mr. Hangtime,â Roland announced into his bullhorn. âIâll meet you at McDonaldâs.â
I climbed down from the top and hopped into the first car. The actor playing the convict trying to kill me got into the seat behind me. He had a dummy next to him. A bunch of teenage extrasânon-actors who fill out a crowdâclimbed into the rest of the seats.
âRoll cameras!â bellowed Roland, and the coaster eased up the first incline. Roland had cameras positioned all over the track so he could shoot the action from many different angles.
We were halfway up the hill when the guy behind meâas instructedâslipped the wire over my head and around my neck. I reached up to protect my throat, and we struggled like that through the 360-degree loop.
While we were spinning through the boomerang, I managed to get the wire off my head. We wrestled with each other as the coaster shot through the corkscrew. In the middle of one of the inversions, Igrabbed hold of the guy and threw him overboard to his death.
Actually, I grabbed hold of the dummy and threw that overboard, while the actor ducked below his seat. With all the screaming and the scenery flying by, the audience, hopefully, wouldnât notice.
My character appeared to think everything was fine, but during the vertical dive, another bad guy in the back car pulled out a gun and started shooting at me. Blanks, of course. I leaned forward and ducked my head. The bad guy fired off six shots. They ricocheted off the coaster. His seventh shot was a click. He was out of bullets.
The coaster slowly started climbing the last 115-foot lifthill. While leaning forward, I grabbed a prop umbrella, which had been placed at my feet. As the bad guy reloaded his gun, I popped open the umbrella and stepped up on my seat.
The coaster was at the crest of the hill now, about to shoot down the drop. Just as the bad guy was about to pull his trigger again, I jumped off the coaster, holding the umbrella. The coaster slid down the drop and I floated gently down.
It was difficult to control the umbrella, which had been specially designed to work like a parachute. When I hit the air bag placed on the ground alongside the ride, I twisted my right ankle and felt a sharp pain shoot up my leg. Right away I knew it was a bad sprain.
âCut!â Roland screamed. âAwesome! Johnny, you are the man!â
As I hobbled off, I got a nice round of applause from the crew.
Â
Meanwhile, Ricky Corvette was at home, probably lying around his pool and working on his tan. Roland would shoot some close-ups of his face later, but today Ricky wasnât even needed on the set.
Augusta Wind was, though. When we finished shooting the coaster scene, a limousine pulled up, and Augusta got out with her mother and her hair stylist. I was in a lot of pain, but like everyoneelse on the set I watched Augustaâs every move. It was impossible to take your eyes off her.
Augusta didnât say a word to anybody, but her mom started jawing with Roland. She was upset because she had gone
Roland and I went over every inch of the track. The coaster starts with an eighty-foot lifthill, which immediately drops you into a 360-degree loop, followed by a boomerang, a corkscrew, and seven inversions. The top speed reaches seventy-two miles per hour at one point. At the top of one of the loops, there are three Gs pulling on your body.
If the riders havenât lost their lunch by that point, they still have to make it through six turning vertical dives, a 53-degree, 115-foot drop, and a two-story spiral. Then the whole sequence is repeatedâbackward!
Itâs tough enough to ride the PsychoClone when youâre strapped into your seat, holding on for dear life. I would have to do it while a guy was trying to strangle me from behind with piano wire.
âItâs going to be a piece of cake, Mr. Hangtime,â Roland announced into his bullhorn. âIâll meet you at McDonaldâs.â
I climbed down from the top and hopped into the first car. The actor playing the convict trying to kill me got into the seat behind me. He had a dummy next to him. A bunch of teenage extrasânon-actors who fill out a crowdâclimbed into the rest of the seats.
âRoll cameras!â bellowed Roland, and the coaster eased up the first incline. Roland had cameras positioned all over the track so he could shoot the action from many different angles.
We were halfway up the hill when the guy behind meâas instructedâslipped the wire over my head and around my neck. I reached up to protect my throat, and we struggled like that through the 360-degree loop.
While we were spinning through the boomerang, I managed to get the wire off my head. We wrestled with each other as the coaster shot through the corkscrew. In the middle of one of the inversions, Igrabbed hold of the guy and threw him overboard to his death.
Actually, I grabbed hold of the dummy and threw that overboard, while the actor ducked below his seat. With all the screaming and the scenery flying by, the audience, hopefully, wouldnât notice.
My character appeared to think everything was fine, but during the vertical dive, another bad guy in the back car pulled out a gun and started shooting at me. Blanks, of course. I leaned forward and ducked my head. The bad guy fired off six shots. They ricocheted off the coaster. His seventh shot was a click. He was out of bullets.
The coaster slowly started climbing the last 115-foot lifthill. While leaning forward, I grabbed a prop umbrella, which had been placed at my feet. As the bad guy reloaded his gun, I popped open the umbrella and stepped up on my seat.
The coaster was at the crest of the hill now, about to shoot down the drop. Just as the bad guy was about to pull his trigger again, I jumped off the coaster, holding the umbrella. The coaster slid down the drop and I floated gently down.
It was difficult to control the umbrella, which had been specially designed to work like a parachute. When I hit the air bag placed on the ground alongside the ride, I twisted my right ankle and felt a sharp pain shoot up my leg. Right away I knew it was a bad sprain.
âCut!â Roland screamed. âAwesome! Johnny, you are the man!â
As I hobbled off, I got a nice round of applause from the crew.
Â
Meanwhile, Ricky Corvette was at home, probably lying around his pool and working on his tan. Roland would shoot some close-ups of his face later, but today Ricky wasnât even needed on the set.
Augusta Wind was, though. When we finished shooting the coaster scene, a limousine pulled up, and Augusta got out with her mother and her hair stylist. I was in a lot of pain, but like everyoneelse on the set I watched Augustaâs every move. It was impossible to take your eyes off her.
Augusta didnât say a word to anybody, but her mom started jawing with Roland. She was upset because she had gone
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