Kings Island did not simply order a grand machine from afar. Its own people designed and built The Beast, with Al Collins and Jeff Gramke leading the engineering work and Charles Dinn directing construction. The wooded corner of the park, with its hills, cliffs, and ravines, was kept as part of the undertaking rather than swept flat. guinnessworldrecords.com· coasterpedia.net

The ride opened to the public on April 14, 1979, and arrived with the confidence of a civic achievement. It was presented as the tallest, fastest, and longest wooden roller coaster of its day, and the summer queues told their own story, with early crowds reported waiting as long as five hours. guinnessworldrecords.com

Its name, credited to public relations manager Ruth Voss, came from the builders’ own talk of a beast of a project. The title suited the finished work: a long run through timber and tunnel, culminating in the famous five-hundred-and-forty-degree helix tunnel near the end of the course. guinnessworldrecords.com· sixflags.com

The Beast has been carefully renewed while remaining a wooden coaster. In the winter work begun November 1, 2021, The Gravity Group and Kings Island crews refurbished two thousand feet of track, including the first drop and tunnel areas; later maintenance continued the same long stewardship of the ride’s wooded course. wsaz.com· amusementtoday.com