Retired Grandpa Uses Free Time To Build Backyard Roller Coasters For His 6 Grandkids

December 1, 2016

A retired aerospace engineer has spent the past two years designing and building roller coasters in his backyard for his grandchildren.

grandpa builds backyard roller coaster grandkids
Photo credit: Paul Gregg

After graduating from the University of Utah with a mechanical engineering degree in 1979, Gregg spent his entire career working at Boeing in research and development. He applied the same skills he used to come up with new structural concepts for aerospace to the roller coasters.

grandpa builds backyard roller coaster grandkids
Photo credit: Paul Gregg

"I saw a couple of people who tried (making backyard coasters) online and I thought I could do it a lot better, so things got out of control."

grandpa builds backyard roller coaster grandkids
Photo credit: Paul Gregg

What started as an attempt to make one backyard coaster for his grandchildren quickly led to the creation of three: the original coaster, a larger coaster, and a small coaster called the Little Rocket for kids as young as two.

Gregg, who lives in the Seattle area, said his six grandchildren love to ride the roller coasters.

Watch the coasters in action: