Lightning Rod, located at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, is the world's only wooden launched roller coaster.

And on September 12 Dollywood told the public in a Tweeter Post Posted by the Official Dollywood Twitter that Lightning Rod would close for the season on October 30th to convert the world record launch into a high speed chain lift.

Source: https://twitter.com/Dollywood/status/1701611625071919200

As a result, the one and only launched wooden roller coaster would no longer exist. 
But this is not the first time Lightning Rod has received major changes to help the rides up time or the time it is operational. 

When the ride first launched in 2016, it received positive feedback, even receiving a golden ticket award for the best new attraction in 2016, one of the biggest awards a ride can earn in the amusement industry.

Source: https://goldenticketawards.com/2016-standard-golden-ticket-no-background-new-logo-high-res/

But the ride's success was also its downfall. What made Lightning Rod a major record holder was its launch, but it was also a source of down time, with it being down for the majority of the days in 2016 due to maintenance related issues with the launch system. It was not unsafe, but kinks needed to be worked out, as with any prototype. Making it difficult, if not impossible, to ride, but those who did praised it as the greatest roller coaster ever.

And for the 2017 season, Lightning Rod underwent considerable upgrades, including new trains that were lighter, which should minimize downtime, and Lightning Rod's launch was changed to be more dependable by being slowed down.

Source: https://www.tripster.com/travelguide/dollywoods-lightning-rod-coaster/

And while there were small adjustments to Lightning Rod to improve its reliability over the seasons of 2018, 2019, and 2020, none of them seemed to assist with the amount of downtime Lightning Rod encountered.

So the park made yet another major effort to tackle the significant amount of downtime Lightning Rod has endured.

Dollywood was going to retrack a significant portion of lightning rod utilizing Steel I-Box Track.

Source: https://twitter.com/aceonlineorg/status/1063234563948851200

See all of lightning rod's track has been topper track track on left with layers of wood beneath one layer of steel still classifying it as a wooden roller coaster. But with this new retrack with steel I box track track on the right replacing much of the topper track that lightning rod had.

Lightning Rod remained a wooden roller coaster, but the steel track would allow for tighter tolerances on the launch track, which RMC, the manufacturer, claimed would allow for more uptime.

But when lightning rod failed to meet the up time that park has hopped for during the 2021 & 2022 season 

Dollywood parks and resorts decided it was best to discontinue the launch system that caused lightning rod problems and replace it with a regular boring old chain lift, despite the park's states that this chain lift will be fast and the ride will be mostly indifferent aside from the launch. But the launch was one of the factors that led to lightning rod's popularity.

And from Dollywood’s standpoint it made sense  

They either A. Call it quits and close the ride the cheaper option however would make many regular visitors mad or 
B. Replace it with a chain lift more expensive but would make fans more happy And from this standpoint there decision makes plenty of sense however I think there was a third option that they didn’t consider.

See, the reason lightning rod's launch failed was due to the wood. Most people thought it failed due to the launch overheating, but that would not have been the case. What was different about lightning rod was that it was made of wood, and the launch systems required tight tolerances to operate successfully.

Source:https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20210413/31530/wood-you-count-lightning-rod-coaster-controversy-wood-or-steel

And when they ordered the retrack, they believed it would be the true solution, but they ignored the fact the entire ride was supported by wood, which might have been the real reason the ride was down.

So what I propose is that Dollywood keeps the iconic launch that made lightning rod lightning rod and instead either replace the support structure with steel or use steel beams to support the ride. That could be the true fix lightning rod needs. To ensure that the ride remains operational. Because it would be a shame to watch the world's only wooden launched roller coaster reduced to a skeleton of its former self.

So I encourage you to join the petition to at least show Dollywood that we want to preserve this great roller coaster running and blasting up over the hill for many more years to come, but only with your signature. If you do not wish to sign, that is okay.

I thank you for your time you’ve spent reading this petition it means a lot even if you didn't sign.

Here is the current P.O.V video of Lightning Rod if you are interested

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SrCSDpqY8E&t=82s