High on Track

By Melissa August, Amanda Bower, Mitch Frank, Ellin Martens, Sora Song, Joel Stein, Heather Won Tesoriero and Josh Tyrangiel

A consumer-safety report issued last week says a record 10,580 people landed in the ER with amusement park- and carnival-ride injuries in 2000. That's the kind of stat that roller-coaster freaks take as a challenge. As they flood amusement parks this Labor Day weekend for a final dose of stomach-turning fun (or a shot at the record), we give you a handy guide to the summer's greatest thrills.

ALL-AROUND # 1 Millennium Force, Cedar Point, Ohio The tallest (310 ft.) and fastest (92 m.p.h.) full-circuit coaster in the U.S.--the wait is an hour-plus, down from five when it first opened

MOST LIKELY TO BURST A VESSEL HyperSonic XLC, Kings Dominion, Va. A pneumatic launcher blasts riders 0-80 m.p.h. in 1.8 sec. and shoots them over a 165-ft. vertical tower with G-forces that even astronauts don't endure

MOST TERRIFYING Cyclone, Astroland, Brooklyn, N.Y. It holds no records for longest or fastest, but its creaks, groans and rickety rails keep riders hanging on in fear for their lives