Carowinds releases statement about cracked rollercoaster, plans for reopening

Carowinds on Thursday shared an update on the cracked Fury 325 rollercoaster and what it will take for the ride to reopen.

The update came almost a week after a visitor discovered a crack in a support pillar on the coaster.

Jeremy Wagner, a Carowinds visitor, found the fracture in the Fury 325 rollercoaster on Friday night, June 30. He said he noticed part of the coaster moving away from a support beam and then captured a video to show the first employee he could find.

"It separated like that. Every car came through. Every time it shook. It separated like it did," said Wagner. "I told him, you need to shut this ride down."

Wagner told WRAL News two employees he flagged down had no sense of urgency. He then called the fire department, and the ride was eventually shut down for investigation.

Carowinds released a statement last week saying safety is the park's top priority and all rides, including Fury 325, go through daily inspections. The ride has been closed since Friday.

Almost a week later, Carowinds provided an update, saying the park’s maintenance team and representatives from the ride’s manufacturer, Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers Inc. (B&M), began inspecting the Fury 325 on July 1, the day after the ride closed.

After inspecting the entire track, support columns and foundation, the Carowinds maintenance team B&M "performed a battery of tests to identify the cause of the fracture, which appears to have formed along a weld line in the steel column," a spokesperson said.

Crews will remove and replace the damaged support column. The new part is expected to be delivered to Carowinds next week, but the ride will undergo extensive tests and inspections by B&M and a third-party testing firm before it can reopen to the public, Carowinds said.

No reopening date was announced Thursday.

The spokesperson added, "It’s important to understand that rides like Fury 325 are designed with redundancies in place to ensure the safety of guests in the event of an issue such as this."

Tiffany Newton, a regular at Carowinds, shared a photo with WRAL and said she happened to take the photo on June 24, a week before Wagner's video. Newton says she only noticed what looks like the beginning of that break after Wagner's video went viral online.