Gold Striker is a wooden roller coaster at California’s Great America in Santa Clara, California, built by Great Coasters International (GCI) and designed by Jeff Pike. It opened to the public on May 31, 2013, following a soft opening in late April, becoming the park’s eighth roller coaster and its first new wooden coaster in years.
Themed around the Old West and California’s 19th-century Gold Rush, the ride was marketed as the tallest and fastest wooden coaster in Northern California at the time of its debut. Its signature feature is a 174-foot-long tunnel on the first drop, billed as the longest such tunnel on any wooden coaster’s opening drop in the world.
Stats at a Glance
- Park: California’s Great America, Santa Clara, CA
- Manufacturer: Great Coasters International (GCI)
- Opened: May 31, 2013
- Height: 108.2 ft
- Top speed: 53.7 mph
- Length: 3,197 ft
- Inversions: 0
- Duration: 2 minutes 30 seconds
The Ride Experience
Riders board 12-car trains seating 24 people, two across in a single row, before climbing to a height of just over 108 feet. The first drop plunges 103.3 feet at a 50-degree angle and sends the train directly into the coaster’s famous 174-foot tunnel, a moment widely cited by enthusiasts as one of the most thrilling openings among modern wooden coasters.
From there, Gold Striker winds through 3,197 feet of track with a mix of airtime hills and banked turns typical of GCI’s out-and-back-style layouts, reaching a top speed of about 53.7 mph and pulling up to 4.2 G’s before the roughly two-and-a-half-minute ride comes to an end.
Reception and Legacy
Gold Striker earned strong reviews from the coaster community almost immediately, placing among the top finishers in Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards for Best New Ride in 2013 and continuing to rank among the world’s top wooden coasters in subsequent years.
The ride’s Old West theming, including its Celebration Plaza setting nodding to the California Gold Rush, helped it stand out among Northern California’s coaster offerings and cemented its reputation as one of GCI’s standout designs.
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Gold Striker FAQs
Who manufactured Gold Striker?
Gold Striker was built by Great Coasters International (GCI), a manufacturer known for its wooden roller coasters, and was designed by Jeff Pike.
How tall is Gold Striker and how fast does it go?
Gold Striker stands about 108.2 feet tall and reaches a top speed of approximately 53.7 mph.
What is Gold Striker’s most famous feature?
Its 174-foot-long tunnel on the first drop is billed as the longest tunnel on a wooden coaster’s opening drop anywhere in the world.
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Photo by Somruthai Keawjan on Unsplash.