Even though there is another Racer topic or 2, I believe this deserves its own.

This year King's Dominion put a new system on their Racer 75.   The lift hill syncs the 2 trains using variable lift hill speeds so they reach the top at the same time. The coaster almost always races!    Even if the ops let the trains go about 20 seconds apart, they still sync.   

Its interesting how much they improved the design of this coaster versus racer when they built Racer 75 and the former Thunder Road.  They trains stay side by side longer because they don't have the split after the 3rd hill like Racer.     Racer 75 has a wonderful floater hill as the 3rd hill versus the bigger hill of Racer.    Both Racer 75 and Thunder Road have/had a surprise tunnel finale which Racer never had.  Plus there is the issue of the missing final hill on Racer because of the X-Base walkthrough.

And finally, KD was operating both sides of the coaster from open to close. They may have one train operation (justified due to walk-on), but they actually paid extra staff to let it race all day long for the customers.

Racing coasters are rare and King's Island is lucky to have one, but there is room for improvement in the lift hill system, operations and even design if they ever do a major rehab of the coaster.

I had not heard about the new lift system.  That seems like a great idea for Racer at KI.  

I can't imagine that they would ever overhaul the layout of Racer, even though as you pointed out, there are some possible improvements that could be made to improve the racing aspect of the ride, or the air time.  Racer is considered an important historical coaster.  

My hope for the future is that someday they will do something to improve the restraints in the trains so they are not so uncomfortable.  If they did choose to change the trains, they could pursue having one side go backwards again.  There are plenty of coasters out there that go forwards and backwards these days, so it is just a matter of getting the manufacturer to sign off on that usage legally.  I know that topic is brought up and shot down frequently by park management, but Kings Island continues to have such deep love for nostalgia that I could see it happening some day.

The lifts on KD racer were impressive this year. I was originally bummed seeing one go out first but it just sort of hangs out on the lift hill waiting. 

I think Racer needs to be re-painted to its original color scheme and a good re-tracking job as well.

I'm so torn on if The Racer should be changed or not. While it is very important historically, I find the ride pretty abusive and unenjoyable, skipping on about half of my park visits.

The Racer was already changed when they took out the last bunny hills on both sides for a longer break run. Also it used to have buzz bar  restraints with more room.