California dad builds single-rider roller coaster in his family's backyard

ORINDA, Calif., May 7 (UPI) -- A California boy asked his dad to build him a roller coaster – and he actually did it.

It took Orinda dad Will Pemble about six weeks to build the single-rider roller coaster in his backyard and cost him about $3,500.

He felt like building the amusement park ride was a cool way to help teach his 10-year-old son Lyle about math and science.

“The mathematics, the physics, the science, the really hard thinking -- there needs to be something on the other side of that math that’s worth slogging through the math,” Pemble told CBS San Francisco. “So if there’s a coaster at the other side of how many feet of track do we need … then suddenly the word problem gets done really fast.”

Lyle got the idea for backyard ride after going on a roller coaster in New Jersey. “I decided to ride it because I thought it would be fun, and then I thought there are more and better roller coasters out there, so I started doing research on them,” Lyle said.

The youngster now has dreams of being a roller coaster designer when he grows up.

“All of the neighbors have said ‘what the hell are you doing back there?’ None of them have complained,” Pemble said.