totalling 24 riders per train. Thunder Run features 70 degree banked turns. Thunder Runs design was originally intended for Americana Amusement Park. In 1986 John Fetterman presented the design to park manager Ron Berni. Berni contacted Dennis Starkey of Curtis D. Summers's engineering firm. The coaster was never built for Americana and Berni transferred to Kentucky Kingdom in 1989. The design was later used as the foundation for the International Coasters' roller coaster located at Carowinds and formerly at Kings Dominion named Hurler. Ride experience Thunder Run features a double out and back layout. It begins with a left turn out of the station. This leads to the chain lift hill. Once at the top, riders go down a small dip and along a 180 degree turn to the left. The first drop of leads into a near-ground level 70-degree banked turn to the left. A series of small camelback hills are followed by a turnaround. The train proceeds back towards the station with another hill. This process repeats a second time leading back into the brake run and station. Reception In 1993 and 1994, Thunder Run was cited by Amusement Business as the "Most Terrifying Roller Coaster" on a top 10 list. Inside Track magazine ranked Thunder Run as the "fourth best of its kind in the nation." In 2007, the Lexington Herald-Leader described the ride as having "a few nice drops and that jerky, clicking wooden coaster feel that some people love, but it never gets too wild." Tim O'Brien, formerly of Amusement Business, rode the inaugural run of the ride in 1990, as well as the first cycle of the refurbished ride in 2013. O'Brien describes the updated ride as "a better ride today than it was back then," commending the ride's ability to give a classic wooden roller coaster feel, yet run smoothly. He stated Thunder Run "is one of the top wooden roller coasters in the world." In Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards, Thunder Run has appeared four times between 2001 and 2004. It debuted at position 34 in 2001 before dropping to 49 in 2004. Mitch Hawker's Wooden Coaster Poll was an annual survey of roller coasters from around the world. In that poll, Thunder Run entered at position 30 in 1994, maintaining an average of 54 for the 17 years that followed. The ride's ranking in subsequent polls is shown in the