ThrillNetwork member 2for2true remembers Wheel Burrow at Six Flags Over Georgia. Wheel Burrow was a Chance Tumbler that ran at the park from 1968 to 1970.
Those of you who never had the chance to see or ride this insane piece of metal won’t believe my description. Those of you who did ride it know exactly what I’m talking about. I rode this when it was the Wheel Burrow at Six Flags Over Georgia in 1969.
It’s hard to understand just how HUGE this ride was without seeing it in person: about the size of an eight- or 10-story building. The cars were all top-heavy and had a big steering wheel that took two people to hold upright, and once the ride started to move, the cars went very fast. This made it impossible to hold the cars unless the rider was a strong adult male. Once it started rotating towards the top, there was no chance you were holding on to the wheel — the G-force was so strong it was ripped out of your hands.
Once at the top, you spun in a fast circle, losing everything from your pockets. There were cubbies at the station to hold valuables. I remember the ride operators walking around the platforms picking up several dollars in change every time the next shift of cars went in the air.
Although you were strapped in a seat belt, you weren’t in any form-fitting seat, so both riders were crushed together for the duration. It took a long time to get off once the ride started. Each ride lasted around seven minutes.
Riders would get off the Wheel Burrow looking like they’d been in a war: sick, shaken and crying. I was 12 years old at the time, and this ride completely blew me away. I remember going back to the park a few years later, running back to the area where the ride was located and just being crushed with dissapointment when I saw it was gone.
I’m 52 years old and have ridden hundreds of theme park thrill rides all over the world. I can honestly say that nothing I’ve ridden in my life came close to matching this totally gonzo, out-of-control monster of a thrill ride. It remains the downright scariest thing I’ve ever been on, bar none. What a shame to see that photo of the rusted skeleton that once was the world’s greatest thrill ride.
See Wheel Burrow in ThrillNetwork’s database here.
Tags: Chance, chance rides, Chance Tumbler, review, ride review, Six Flags Over Georgia, thrill ride
I wish I could have been around to ride it. It sounds like a pretty insane ride. I guess the ride had a low capacity if the ride was seven minutes.
It sounds like Wheelie, which sits in the same spot Wheel Burrow did, on steroids.
Reminds me of a double version of an old carnival ride in which the name escapes me. But hey this is probably of great interest to ya. WHEEL BURROW ride SIX FLAGS OVER GEORGIA, Atlanta PHOTO - eBay (item 380110311768 end time Sep-08-09 18:37:43 PDT)
This is great. I've always been fascinated by the way the Wheel Burrow looked. The structure was so monstrous, especially for a flat ride back then. It had those rickety-looking steel lattice work supports, as opposed to the heavy duty tubular steel beams we see used on thrill rides today. (Of course, I'm sure it was structurally sound, but at a glance it looked like some quickly thrown up carnival ride...maybe that added to the terror)
To me it simply looks like a large, double Chance Skydiver. So, for those who want a similar experience, go to a park that has one of those. But then again, they could be running those rather slow compare to this.
That ride is insane looking. I can't even imagine a Skydiver flipping over like that.
No wonder it was so short lived.
Looks like a cross between a Chance Skydiver and a Chance Turbo, but the whole thing rotates vertically rather than horizontally. As a kid I once wondered why don't they do a Turbo that rotates vertically, glad to see they came close with this. Too bad many of Chance's best thrill rides are no longer being manufactured or had a short manufacturing time.