Double Thunder Raceway – Lagoon History Project

Opened: 15 Apr 2000
Location: X-Venture Zone / North Midway
Manufactured By: J&J Amusements – Salem, Oregon
Go-Kart Model: Sidewinder Double
Engine: Honda GX270K1 9-hp, 4-stroke
Fuel Type: Gasoline
Max Speed: 14 mph
Ride Duration: 5 min
Lightning Track Length: 1,142 ft
Thunder Track Length: 1,146 ft
Number Of Go-Karts: 56 (28 per track)
Ride Capacity: 2 per car
Prices: Driver – $8 / Passenger – $4

Double Thunder Raceway consists of two separate go-kart tracks, the Lightning Track to the east and the Thunder Track to the west. The body style of the karts was loosely based on the Dodge Viper.

Aerial view of Double Thunder Raceway and Top Eliminator from the Sky Scraper in 2008. Photo: JS2 Archive

Double Thunder is an up-charge attraction, requiring an extra admission fee on top of regular park admission. Lagoon had been adding these types of low capacity rides starting with Sky Coaster on 1995. With the addition of Double Thunder, these attractions became known as the X-Venture Zone.

Double Thunder was intended as a kind of spiritual successor to the old track-guided Speedway, Sr. on the South Midway which ended its 40-year operation at the end of Double Thunder’s first season. Double Thunder Raceway was the first of two new rides to open in 2000, with Samurai opening three months later in July.

Aerial image of Double Thunder nearing completion in late 1999 or early 2000.

The tracks utilize space once occupied by the concrete grandstand of the former Lagoon Stadium, which was torn down in October 1998. The Lightning track wraps around Sky Coaster’s launch tower and when fliers on Sky Coaster are raised to the top, they dangle over the the track.

In October 2004, the Park Lane overpass, which crosses Interstate 15 in Farmington, opened with a special event. To mark the occasion, Utah Governor Olene Walker raced the mayor of Farmington, a state senator and the deputy director of UDOT across the new bridge in go-karts from Double Thunder Raceway. Governor Walker won the short race “ending with a 21-foot skid mark”.

Gov. Walker driving a Double Thunder go-kart across the new Park Lane overpass in 2004. Photo: Michael Brandy, Deseret News

When Cannibal was built, the walkway in front of the Sky Scraper was widened, meaning the white, steel arch over the Sky Scraper entrance had to be removed. Later, the arch was relocated to the entrance to Double Thunder. By the beginning of the 2016 season, the Double Thunder sign, which had been out in front of the Pit Row building, was added to the arch.

Double Thunder sign on the old Sky Scraper archway in 2016. Photo: B. Miskin

Originally, tickets for the go-karts and Top Eliminator were sold from a counter in the center of the Pit Row building with doors going out the south side of the building to Double Thunder. In 2016, Pit Row was remodeled as the Rendezvous gift shop and the Pit Row sign moved to the south side. The doors were replaced by a ticket window, which also has a counter inside the building.