Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America's Most Dangerous Amusement Park

by Andy Mulvihill

The Loop is supposed to be a flagship attraction. It looks like it promises total mayhem, an illusion of risk that is the backbone of any amusement park. Except that here, in the place my father calls Action Park, risk has never been an illusion. If something looks dangerous, that’s because it is.

Years later, when Vanity Fair profiled him for allegedly swindling the US ambassador to France in a real estate deal that went south, they referred to him as a “rural schemer” and a “minor legend” on Wall Street. He took offense to both labels. “Rural?” he said. “Minor?”

One ride was not enough. Expansion and growth were necessary. He believed the best way of going about this was to legalize drunk driving.