The Swiss firm Bolliger and Mabillard built their reputation on smoothness, and Afterburn is exhibit A. Stretching 2,956 feet of inverted steel track and standing 113 feet at its peak, the ride threads vertical loop into Immelmann into zero-g roll into batwing into corkscrew - six inversions in a sequence that the review site Coaster Critic called near-perfect pacing. Riders dangle from their shoulders rather than sit on the track, feet free, the layout designed for the feeling of flight rather than the feeling of falling. Top speed clocks at 62 miles per hour. The whole circuit takes two minutes and forty-seven seconds, longer than most coasters of its size.

To build the coaster, Carowinds had to demolish something else. The casualty was Wild Bull, a Bayern Kurve flat ride that spun guests in a tight horizontal loop - charming, dated, and exactly the kind of attraction that made room for the new era of steel monsters. The park promised to keep it in storage for a possible return elsewhere. It never came back. The trade reflected a larger shift: by the late 1990s, regional parks were no longer adding gentle midway rides. They were adding investments. Top Gun: The Jet Coaster was the single biggest one Carowinds had ever made, more than the cost of every original 1973 attraction combined.

The trains have stayed the same. Almost everything else has been renamed. Top Gun launched in 1999 under Paramount Parks, themed to the 1986 film with the same name. When Cedar Fair bought Paramount Parks in 2006, the studio licensing went with the sale - Cedar Fair owned the ride, not the movie. Top Gun became Afterburn for 2008. The paint changed for the 15th anniversary in 2014. The Cedar Fair-Six Flags merger of 2024 brought a third corporate parent and moved the headquarters to Charlotte, five miles from the park. Through it all, the inversion sequence never changed. Riders who first rode as kids now bring their own children to ride exactly the same six elements.

Afterburn debuted at position 18 on Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards list of top steel coasters in 1999 - a strong start for a ride still wet with new paint. It returned to the rankings through 2008, fell off, came back for 2012 and 2013, and has not placed since 2014. Eleven appearances total. The drop reflects industry inflation more than ride decline: when Afterburn opened, 113 feet was tall; by the mid-2010s, Carowinds' own Fury 325 stood 325 feet, and the inverted-coaster category had been overtaken by hyper coasters and launched coasters. Afterburn remains beloved by repeat riders for exactly what made it great in 1999 - tight inversions, fast pacing, and a soundtrack of steel that still cuts across the County Fair midway.

From the chain lift, riders see the I-77 corridor stretching toward Charlotte, the parking lot, and on a clear day, the corporate park five miles north where Six Flags now runs the company. The pre-drop is small and deceptive. Then the train banks right, dives into the vertical loop, and the ride takes over. The ravine below the Immelmann is small enough that first-time riders rarely notice they have dipped below ground level. The batwing crosses through a tunnel under the park's rear entrance. The corkscrew brings everything back up to the brake run. From dispatch to dispatch, the cycle is short. The line, on a busy day, is not.