Man Celebrates 81st Birthday By Taking 81 Spins On Kennywood's SwingShot

WEST MIFFLIN (KDKA) -- It's a time honored axiom that what goes up, must come down.

That's doubly true of a Kennyood ride called the SwingShot. And on Monday, all eyes were on a window washer named Stanley Kaczynski from Murrysville.

"I'm 81," he says. "And I've been doing this every year since I was 65."

He rode it 65 times that year. And every year since, well, you guessed it. This year, he's doing 81.

But he hasn't limited himself to the SwingShot.

For his 76th year, he says he rode, "The Pitfall 76 times, then they took it down. I did the Phantom 48 times. And I did the Thunderbolt 48 times."

He's been coming to Kennywood since he was 3-years-old, arriving on the streetcar with his mother.

"I was always here at Kennywood. And when I got older, I got married and I brought my four kids here. And they grew up and got married, and I had 12 grandkids. And I brought them all here," says Kaczynski. "Now I'm on my great grandkid. I bring her here all the time."

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The 81-year-old Swingshot champ has lofty goals ahead.

"Trying to hit 85 or 90, if I live that long," he says.