Stan Checketts, the innovator behind the Big Shot atop the Stratosphere in Las Vegas (at one time the highest ride in the world), has delivered a ridership of more than a billion people. Since 2010, he's been creating the Soaring Eagle Zipline and other rides. Stan started the new venture after the 2009 sale of a company he started back in 1994 (S&S Sports, Inc., now S&S-Sansei Technologies). The sale was to focus on a new venture — Soaring Eagle Zipline, Inc., which became known as Soaring Eagle Rides when it started developing more products.