Whizzer at Six Flags Great America is recognized by American Coaster Enthusiasts as an ACE Roller Coaster Landmark, a designation reserved for rides of historic significance. Designed by engineer Werner Stengel and manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf, it is the last remaining large, steel, custom-built Schwarzkopf Speedracer coaster in North America. Originally named Willard’s Whizzer after Marriott founder J. Willard Marriott when the park opened as Marriot's Great America on May 29, 1976, it was one of two identical rides to open that year, alongside another at Marriott's Great America in Santa Clara, California, which had opened earlier on March 20, 1976. In the 1980s, both coasters’ names were shortened to Whizzer, but the California ride was removed in 1988 after the two parks were sold to different owners. With an unusual electric lift system that places motors within its toboggan-style vehicles, the ride’s four-car, 24-passenger trains climb 70 feet to the top of a spiral lift hill before descending steep drops and tight, heavily banked turns at speeds up to 45 mph along 3,100 feet of winding track, and it continues to thrill new generations of riders into the 21st century.