The Outlaw is a

wooden roller coaster A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also b ...

located at Adventureland in

Altoona, Iowa Altoona is a city in Polk County, Iowa, United States, and is a part of the Des Moines metropolitan area. The population was 19,565 at the 2020 census. Altoona is home of the Adventureland amusement park and Prairie Meadows horse racing track ...

, near

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

. The Outlaw made its debut in 1993. It was the second roller coaster built by

Custom Coasters International Custom Coasters International (CCI) was one of the premier wooden roller coaster manufacturers in the world and produced 34 wooden coasters in eleven years — more than any other company in recent times. It was located in West Chester, Ohio. His ...

, which soon became known as one of the world's premier builders of

s. The original spokesperson for The Outlaw was an old miner character who appeared in television, radio, and print advertisements for Adventureland. He can still be seen outside the lower queue of The Outlaw in cartoon representation, on the "you must be this tall to ride" sign.

The "Prototype" for Great Coasters International

Even though Outlaw was built by CCI, it was designed by Mike Boodley, who later went on to form

Great Coasters International Great Coasters International, Inc. (GCI or GCII) is a Sunbury, Pennsylvania-based roller coaster manufacturer which has created several award-winning rides since its formation in 1994. Starting in 2006 with Thunderbird at PowerPark in Finland, th ...

. In fact, Outlaw is considered to be the prototype GCI roller coaster as it laid the groundwork for coasters like

Lightning Racer Lightning Racer is a wooden dueling roller coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Built by Great Coasters International (GCI) and designed by Mike Boodley of GCI, the ride was completed in 2000 within the Midway America section of the p ...

and Kentucky Rumbler.

References

Roller coasters introduced in 1993 Roller coasters in Iowa Western (genre) amusement rides {{amusement-ride-stub