Challenge Racing

Challenge Racing
1992 - 2015

Challenge Racing was a go kart ride that was in Cedar Point's Challenge Park.

Challenge Racing was an opening day attraction in Challenge Park. It opened in 1992 as Grand Prix Raceway.

Originally the track was one giant track and only ran one type of car. This set up would remain this way until the end of the 1998 season.

In 1999 the track was splint into two tracks and a third track was built. The attraction was renamed Triple Challenge Racepark. It would remain this way until the end of the 2001 season.

In 2002 Tripple Challenge Racepark was renamed Challenge Racing. Challenge Racing would consist of the Grand Prix track and the Sprint Track.

Challenge Racing was an upcharge attraction. The ride cost $5.00 for 1 ride, or $8.00 for two rides. Every ride last exactly 4 minutes.

Challenge Racing was built and manufactured by Formula K Raceways.

Grand Prix Track

The Grand Prix track used the same station that was built for the ride in 1992. It would even use similar cars to the original.

To ride the Grand Prix side of Challenge Racing, guests would have be 16 years of age with valid id for proof.

Grand Prix was a 1,180 foot long track that races in, around, and under Magnum XL-200! The ride even goes up and over a really cool bridge!

The cars on the Grand Prix Track ran at an impressive 18 MPH.

Challenge Racing Ride Facts
Grand Prix Track
Opened: 1992
Closed: 2015
Track Length:1,180 Feet
Manufacture: Formula K Raceways
Ride Time 4 Minutes

Sprint Track

The Sprint Track was created in 1999 to help make Challenge Racing more accessible to more guests.

The sprint track featured smaller cars. This allowed riders to be 48 inches tall to ride the ride.

The cars on the sprint track also traveled at a slightly slower speed.

The Sprint Track is a 780 foot long track that weaves in and out and goes between the Grand Prix Track!

It was really fun to race with the entire family on the sprint track.

The cars on the sprint track were all themed to Cedar Point rides. This was really cool and made the ride more unique.

The ride had cars for Maverick, Gemini, Skyhawk, Shoot the Rapids, WildCat, Disaster Transport, Mean Streak, Chaos, maXair, Millennium Force, Iron Dragon, Gemini, Corkscrew, Power Tower, Raptor, and Top Thrill Dragster.

Challenge Racing Ride Facts
Sprint Track
Opened: 1999
Closed: 2015
Track Length:780 Feet
Manufacture: Formula K Raceways
Ride Time 4 Minutes
The cars were themed to Cedar Point rides.

Challenge Racing was a different kind of experience for guests.

After Challenge Racing Cedar Point continued to add attractions to balance out the park. They would add: Snake River Falls (1993), Raptor (1994), Cedar Point's 125th Anniversary Celebration (1995), Mantis (1996-2014), Chaos (1997-2010), Soak City Expansion (1997), Power Tower (1998), Camp Snoopy (1999), Millennium Force (2000), Vertigo (2001-2001), Wicked Twister 2002-2021), Top Thrill Dragster (2003-2021), maXair (2005), Skyhawk (2006), Maverick (2007), Planet Snoopy (2008), Shoot the Rapids (2010-2015), WindSeeker (2011), Dinosaurs Alive on Adventure Island (2012-2018), GateKeeper (2013), New Gemini Midway (2014), Rougarou (2015, and Valravn (2015) All of these rides added something Cedar Point didn't have before.

Nearing The End.

Over the years Challenge Racing wasn't the most popular ride. The ride had very low capacity compared to other rides in the park.

Starting in late 2013 the ride would only run one track at a time. This would inflate the wait times.

The ride would continue to decline in popularity. The ride closed during the 2015 season.

The ride was removed at the end of the 2015 season. The ride site would remain empty during the 2016 season.

On August 18, 2016, Cedar Point announced Challenge Park was being replaced with Cedar Point Shores Water Park. The new waterpark would be an expansion and rebranding of Soak City.

Challenge Racing was replaced with a new slide complex that houses Portslide Plunge and Point Plummet. The rest of the ride was replaced with a parking lot expansion.