MSU engineering student hopes to design roller coasters

A fast ride on Apollo's chariot and a lasting scream sounds more like the plot of a low-budget science fiction movie than it does the beginning of a young girl's life.

But then again, we're talking about Keely Obert, a native of East Helena and a civil engineering student at Montana State University in Bozeman.

It was more than a decade ago that Obert faced her fear of heights and climbed aboard the famous Apollo's Chariot roller coaster at Busch Gardens.

After enduring speeds of 73 miles per hour and falling 170 feet, Obert was hooked and her future set -- she would live to design roller coasters.

Big dreams start in strange places, they say, and 12 years after that first exhilarating ride, Obert still still has the same dream. As she says, it's just one of those things -- everyone says keep dreaming.

"I rode Apollo's Chariot and, ever since, I've been fascinated," she said, her voice moving to excitement. "It's science. It's math. It's physics. It combines everything I'm interested in."

Is Obert a roller coaster fanatic? You could say that. She's been in a coaster-induced frenzy for years. It's been a wild ride that's taken her from Silverwood to Universal Studios: the Hulk, Tremors, Island of Adventure -- the rides go on and on.

"It takes a lot of engineering and it takes a lot of calculations," she said. "How high does your hill have to be to go through a loop, or how much energy does it take to make your roller coaster keep going on a steel track?"

Yes, she said, you have to know the physics behind the game. Too many G-forces and the ride becomes a flop. Too slow and it's a boring bust. If the coaster world were a dark and gritty place, she's seen the light, and her hobby continues to grow.

"At first it was just a hobby," she said. "I was interested in structural engineering for other reasons. But I always thought my ultimate job would be to design roller coasters for fun. It's a step toward my dream."

Roller coasters have evolved from the rickety, wooden rides of yesterday. But even those hold a place in Obert's heart, never mind if they run a little slower than their steel counterparts.

"The wood just gives a little," she said. "It's a whole different experience. It's more about perception of the human eye -- how close everything is. They're still being built because they're totally different."

Talk about evolution, she says, discussing every twist and turn in rides like the Hulk and Superman. The new steel coasters do more than just go fast, they tell a story. If you keep your eyes open and your mouth shut, you might come off a little wiser.

"I like how they work the themes into the roller coasters to make it more interesting," she said. "Even the buildings -- they're designed to make the experience real for you. I think it's cool they were able to do that."

Obert keeps a book close at hand, a sort of thrill-seeker's bible to the "ultimate scream machines." It covers coaster history and offers up fascinating statistics -- the highest, the fastest, the meanest of the mean.

Want the fastest run? Travel to Ohio for Cedar Point's 120 mph "Top Thrill Dragster." Looking for the longest ride; head to the 8,133-foot-long "Steel Dragon" in Japan.

And don't forget those wooden favorites, including the "The Balder" in Sweden, which drops at a 70 degree angle -- the steepest wooden coaster in the world.

"It just amazes me that that could be done safely," Obert said. "It's just kind of a field you have to want pretty bad."

Reporter Martin Kidston can be reached at 447-4086, or at mkidston@helenair.com.