American Eagle is the twin-track wooden racing roller coaster at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, which opened on May 23, 1981. Built by Intamin of Switzerland — its first-ever wooden coaster — it debuted as the world’s tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster and still holds the record for the world’s longest, tallest, and fastest racing wooden coaster.
This guide covers exactly how fast American Eagle really is (and why it feels faster on wood than on steel), a rundown of the ride’s best fun facts and construction trivia, and the full story of its rare 2026 return to true side-by-side racing for the park’s 50th anniversary season.
Quick Answer
American Eagle’s top speed is 66 mph (106 km/h), reached at the bottom of its 147-foot, 55-degree first drop, which actually dips about 20 feet below ground level before the track levels out. Each side runs 4,650 feet of wooden track in about 2 minutes and 23 seconds, making it the world’s longest, tallest, and fastest racing wooden roller coaster — a title it has held since 1981.
How Fast Is American Eagle? Top Speed, G-Forces & the Drop
American Eagle hits its top speed of 66 mph as the train bottoms out of the first drop — a 147-foot plunge at a 55-degree angle that dips roughly 20 feet below the surrounding ground level before the track rises back up. That below-grade dip is a big reason the drop feels steeper and faster than its numbers alone suggest: the train is still accelerating as it passes through the low point, rather than pulling out of the dive early.
For a coaster that debuted in 1981, 66 mph remains genuinely quick, especially on wood. Unlike steel hypercoasters, wooden structures flex slightly under load, so every hill, turn, and airtime moment at speed comes with the extra rattle and shimmy that riders associate with old-school “woodie” intensity. After the first drop, American Eagle doesn’t just coast — the out-and-back layout carries that speed through camelback hills, a 560-degree helix at the far turnaround, and a 360-degree helix near the finish, both of which pile on lateral G-forces even as the train naturally loses speed to friction and air resistance.
Top speed aside, American Eagle’s reputation for feeling fast also comes from the racing format itself: with a second train visibly gaining or falling behind on the parallel track, riders perceive their own speed relative to a competitor, which consistently makes racing coasters feel quicker than solo layouts of similar stats.
Fun Facts About American Eagle
American Eagle was Intamin’s first-ever wooden roller coaster — the Swiss manufacturer is far better known today for steel hypercoasters and launch coasters, making American Eagle an unusual entry in its catalog.
The ride was designed by engineer Curtis D. Summers, who also did structural design work on The Beast at Kings Island, and its trains were built by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC), a legendary name in wooden-coaster train manufacturing.
Because the build site wasn’t perfectly level, crews excavated the ground at the base of the first drops to squeeze out extra height — part of how the ride reached its record-setting 147-foot plunge.
A full ride lasts about 2 minutes and 23 seconds per train, covering 4,650 feet of track that includes a 560-degree helix and a 360-degree helix.
In February 2025, American Coaster Enthusiasts officially designated American Eagle an ACE Landmark coaster, with a plaque ceremony that June recognizing its historical significance.
Six Flags Great America still calls it the tallest and fastest racing wooden coaster on the planet on its own attraction page — a claim that has held up for over four decades.
The Ride Experience
Riders board one of two parallel trains — red or blue — and the dual lift hills build the suspense of not knowing which side will win. At the crest, the 55-degree drop plunges both trains 147 feet, building toward that 66 mph top speed before the out-and-back layout unwinds through camelback hills and sweeping turns at the far end of the course.
Throughout the ride the trains trade the lead, vanishing into the wooden lattice structure and re-emerging beside each other to cheers from the queue and station. The creak and rumble of the wood structure, combined with 1,800 riders per hour of dual-train capacity, give American Eagle an old-school intensity modern steel racers rarely match.
American Eagle Races Again in 2026
For most of the 2010s and 2020s, American Eagle ran single-track, alternating dispatches between the red and blue sides rather than launching them together — a change the park made largely to reduce staffing needs and ease the structural stress that simultaneous dual-track operation puts on a 4,650-foot wooden structure.
As part of Six Flags Great America’s 50th anniversary celebration, the park brought back genuine side-by-side racing, dispatching both trains together from June 20 through August 9, 2026 — the coaster’s first true race in nearly a decade. It’s a rare, time-limited chance to experience American Eagle exactly as it debuted in 1981.
Design, Trains & Height Requirement
American Eagle was designed by Curtis D. Summers and built by the contracting firm Figley-Wright, with trains supplied by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC). Each side runs two trains of five cars, with three benches per car seating two riders across, for 30 riders per train and roughly 1,800 riders per hour of combined capacity.
Restraints consist of an individual ratcheting lap bar, seatbelt, headrest, and seat divider per row. Riders must be at least 48 inches tall to ride.
A Record-Breaking Legacy
When American Eagle opened in 1981, it set world records for tallest wooden coaster (127 ft), fastest wooden coaster (66 mph), and longest drop (147 ft) — and held the title of world’s fastest wooden roller coaster for almost two decades before being surpassed. It was not the longest wooden coaster overall; The Beast at Kings Island had already claimed that title in 1979 at over 7,000 feet of track.
What American Eagle claimed then, and has never relinquished, is the title of the world’s longest, tallest, and fastest racing wooden roller coaster — a twin-track category where no rival has come close. In February 2025, American Coaster Enthusiasts officially designated American Eagle an ACE Landmark coaster, with a plaque ceremony held that June recognizing its historical significance and its role as the first wooden coaster Intamin ever built.
Built to Last: Construction by the Numbers
American Eagle’s wooden structure was a massive undertaking even by 1981 standards: roughly 1,360,000 feet of lumber, 129,720 bolts, and 30,600 pounds of nails went into the frame, which sits on around 2,000 concrete footings. The finished structure was coated in over 9,000 gallons of white paint, and the whole project took more than 20,000 man-hours to build.
That scale is part of why the ride still impresses over 40 years later — and why running both tracks together, as it does for the 2026 racing season, puts real stress on a structure built well before modern lightweight wood-coaster engineering existed.
American Eagle roller coaster FAQs
What is the American Eagle roller coaster?
American Eagle is a twin-track wooden racing roller coaster at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. It opened May 23, 1981, and is recognized as the world’s longest, tallest, and fastest racing wooden roller coaster.
How fast does American Eagle go?
American Eagle reaches a top speed of 66 mph (about 106 km/h), hit at the bottom of its 147-foot first drop, which dips roughly 20 feet below ground level before leveling out.
What are some fun facts about American Eagle?
American Eagle was Intamin’s first wooden coaster ever built, its trains came from Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, the ride includes a 560-degree helix and a 360-degree helix, and construction used about 1.36 million feet of lumber and 9,000 gallons of paint.
Where is American Eagle located?
American Eagle is located in the County Fair section of Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, about 30 miles north of downtown Chicago.
How long is the American Eagle ride?
A ride on American Eagle lasts about 2 minutes and 23 seconds and covers 4,650 feet of track per side.
Who designed and built American Eagle?
American Eagle was designed by engineer Curtis D. Summers and built by the contracting firm Figley-Wright, with Intamin of Switzerland serving as manufacturer — its first-ever wooden coaster — and Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters supplying the trains.
Is American Eagle racing side by side in 2026?
Yes. As part of Six Flags Great America’s 50th anniversary season, American Eagle is dispatching both trains together for true side-by-side racing from June 20 through August 9, 2026, for the first time in nearly a decade.
Why did American Eagle stop racing in previous years?
The park moved to single-track, alternating operation for a period largely to reduce staffing needs and ease the structural stress that simultaneous dual-track dispatch puts on the 4,650-foot wooden structure.
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