I remember riding a ride at the Ohio State Fair in the 80's that I cannot find information on.  It was only at the Fair once, and I used to go every year back then.  I believe it was called The Whip, but it was not like the traditional oval shaped Whips that zip you around both ends.  It did have circular carts similar to those traditional Whips, but the track was circular and it had a large tunnel attached to the circular track.  You would load into one of four carts at the end of the tunnel and the carts held three or four people each.  You would then slowly be attached to the circular track that was flat.  Once each cart was attached the ride would begin and you would pick up speed.  After a minute or so, each cart would detach from the track one by one and enter into a tarped, canvas tunnel section at pretty decent speed until you returned to the loading platform.

 

Does anyone know of this ride?  I have spent many hours in MS Paint and have drawn a crudely artistic depiction of what it looked like:\

 

 

Sounds like a variant of WF Mangels Whip. Let me research a little. Nice diagram, btw!

EDIT:

Wow, that's an elusive one! Do you remember which year it was when they had it?

http://www.flatrides.com/rides/whip.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Mangels

It's just strange that I cannot find a single thing on this ride. I have looked off and on for quite some time when it sticks in my head. Perhaps it was awkwardly put together by the commissioned ride company that year. The Ohio State Fair usually used the same company in those days [today too] year after year. I do remember the year this ride was there was not the same company with the usual set of rides.

I don't remember the year, but I know it was probably later in the 80's...like 88 or 89. I know I was older than ten. I even remember the location it was at [Not that its helpful]:

http://imgur.com/ZM1RzyL'>src="http://i.imgur.com/ZM1RzyL.png" title="Hosted by imgur.com"/>

Lastly, once released from the circular track you would get flung into the tunnel. The tunnel had guiding walls [i can't recall if they were metal] up to about halfway of the cart. Then the canvas tunnel met there forming a circle over you. NO TRACK. The tunnel actually guided the cart and it was curved in such a way that it did not hurt and the cart did not connect violently with it. The tunnel was fairly long too and you would slow down by the time you got to the loading area.

Funny thing was, it did look like an older styled ride amongst all the other rides on the Midway.

_{Your description kind of looks like this.}

_{http://www.flatrides.com/rides/img/ADCWaltzer1.jpg}

_{If you look up Waltzer now you will find a Tilt-a-Whirl type ride. Not sure it this ride transformed into something else or changed names or what.}

Wow. That is very similar. I wonder if some were improved upon into the 60s or later?

I remember seeing it at the state fair many years ago. I'll bet that another company bought the patent and renamed it to something else.

I skipped right over the Waltzer, but upstop might be onto something here. Great find, upstop!

The one shown above seems to do what you describe; the Waltzers of today seem to work more like Tilt-a-Whirls, though, which is why I didn't think of it.

I was at lunch when I saw your picture earlier on my phone. The name Boomerang instantly popped in my head for the first time while staring at that old photo. It was called 'Boomerang'...not The Whip. I also started looking for that on the internet now that you jolted my memory. I ran across this to start:

http://imgur.com/wR8SNk5'>src="http://i.imgur.com/wR8SNk5.png" title="Hosted by imgur.com"/>

Interesting ride. I've never seen or heard of anything like that. Sounds like fun, I want to ride one!

Here's another picture.

http://www.joylandbooks.com/themagiceye/images/00250448.jpg

This time it's called a Boomerang.

Great photo^^

That was a fun ride. Thanks so much for the help. Its taken me a few years to now...off and on. I thought it might have been something I only imagined the last few attempts in searching for it.

EDIT

This really is the best 'parks, rides, coasters' site I have ran across. There are others...but I like it to check in here daily. I also really like that younger dude over at Roller Coaster Philosophy. His view on The Beast is one of the most accurate descriptions I have ever read on the ride. I wish he updated more.

Surprisingly, these were the ONLY two pictures I could find on the internet ANYWHERE! The original ride company is gone but I bet there are patents and designs somewhere for the ride itself. If you find those let me know and I will update you if I find any..

I will put some time into this...while at work of course. Shhhh.

Starting Monday. Thanks again for the help. I can't believe the name Boomerang immediately popped in my head just by that Waltzer photo. How strange. It really has taken me a while to find a picture or mention of the ride. Even last year I chimed the thought of it off as a distorted childhood memory.

Do you know anything of this ride Terp? I know you know many things...and see you hanging out in this thread.

Have you rode this ride man?

It was a good one...or so my younger self remembers...

Its odd but when you mentioned the design and the location, I remembered seeing that exact ride at the fair. Also, it looks like a big part of the ride is made of wood. Heck, I'm old.enough to.remember when our county fair had a Tilt-a-Whirl with wooden platforms for entrance and exits...and that was a long time ago.

Do you know anything of this ride Terp? I know you know many things...and see you hanging out in this thread.

Have you rode this ride man?

It was a good one...or so my younger self remembers...

I saw them when I was too young to ride them. And I remember reading an article in an old circus magazine from the thirties at the M. I. King Library at UK back in the mid-Seventies.

I didn't go to the Ohio State Fair until the early 1990's. I don't remember seeing one there. I have vague memories of one, probably at the Greenup County (Kentucky) Fair in the early 1960's.

Found some other pictures but forgot to post them:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/musher2012/sets/72157627886038172

I don't recall the one I rode looking this nice.

*Also, there you have it...Wisdom Industries.

Great find! Wisdom Industries has lots of unique rides on their website. It looks like they also have custom fabrication. I'm guessing they hold the patent or at least held the patent and would redesign this ride if some park or ride distributor asked. I remember the cars releasing and flying into the tunnel then spinning furiously. I imagine it was a really fun ride.

I asked them to send me some info if they had some...or just pictures if unwilling to part ways with information. I also told them there is a lack of anything about that ride out there on the internet and to look for themselves. Don't know what they may respond with.

I remember loving the ride up stop...its why I have asked all these years in various places.

This thread is giving me major side-scrolling issues when I view it on my computer. It's apparently connected to the images in posts 1 and 4, which the forum software is not shrinking to fit in the available space like it is supposed to.

Me too man...

My files from those were at work and they didn't get shrinked down at all. Its my fault with the size of them.

The size of them shouldn't be an issue. The forum software is supposed to automatically resize them to fit in the available space without side-scrolling, and only show the full size in a lightbox when the reader clicks on the reduced version. So this is purely a bug in the software.