When you can’t go to an amusement park to ride your favorite roller coaster because it’s closed due to the global pandemic, what do you do? You build your own! That’s exactly what Sammy Trechak did this past summer. We love a good backyard roller coaster here at Coaster101 so when we saw his very realistic wood coaster we just had to know more. Thanks to Sammy for taking the time to enlighten us how he built his custom backyard wooden roller coaster.
C101: Firstly, could you please introduce yourself?
ST: Hello I am Sammy Trechak and I am a coaster enthusiast!
C101: Where did you get the idea to build a backyard roller coaster?
ST: Ever since I was a little over two I have loved roller coasters and thrill rides. When I was six I saw a video of The Blue Flash backyard coaster and I asked my mom if I could have one. She said you would have to build it. At the time I was like no way, then 5th grade rolls around and they were doing construction on my house so there was a lot of left over wood. So I decided to make a coaster. It turned out as a ramp but this is what got me into wanting to build a coaster.
C101: How did you design the coaster? Did you sketch it out or design it in 3D first or just started building?
ST: So I knew where to put it because there isn’t a ton of land in my backyard and it is a nice narrow straight path. I drew up 5 pages of what it would look like, my dad said it wasn’t enough so by the end of the week I had a 75 page book of all plans for this coaster.
C101: What materials did you use and where did you get them?
ST: I went to Home Depot and got concrete cinder blocks for the footings and then poured cement when the poles went in. Everything else is made out of wood except for the steel on the top of the track and the screws and bolts.
C101: How long did it take to build and how much did it cost?
ST: It took from March to July to start riding the thing, preview day was early August and Opening was late August. It cost around $4,000.
C101: How did you go about testing the coaster to make sure it is safe to ride?
ST: Well I ran the car down by itself and so I didn’t really know what to do as in weight and keep in mind the fact that at the time of testing it was only a board with wheels on it. So I put myself on it at the lowest point and then every time I ran it I went a little higher until I was at the top.
C101: What are you going to do with the coaster? Any plans to make it bigger or anything like that?
ST: I plan on starting a backyard roller coaster business in central Jersey. I’ve had ideas to make it bigger but I’m taking a break from working on my coaster. All coasters that I build get inspected by real engineers to make sure there are no faults.
Thanks again to Sammy for taking the time to answer our questions about his wooden backyard roller coaster. Be sure to follow BlackStallionBRC on Instagram.
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