Visible crew/equipment: When the Trans Am drives out of the roller coaster frame (before it collapses), in Bandit and Frog's next close-up camera equipment (used for the close-up) is visible on the car's roof, though in the previous shot nothing is atop the car.
Visible crew/equipment: When Cledus and Carrie go to help Bandit after he fell off the elephant in the warehouse, the shadow of someone can be seen on the box to the right of Cledus. The shadow belongs to neither of them because of the angle of the light.
Visible crew/equipment: When Cledus tells Bandit that he knows there's $400,000 at stake, but he won't kill an elephant to get it, in the next shot and in following shots from the same angle, the reflection of the moving boom pole and mic can be seen on the surface of the Trans Am.
Visible crew/equipment: While Snowman drives his rig, in his side shots as he faces the wing mirror the reflection of the camera can be seen on his sunglasses. One example is when he gets on the CB and hails Bandit to warn him about Smokey at his back door.
Answer: To me, in real life, it looks like a roller coaster was already set up for demolition because of its poor conditions, and the crew was able to film it for the movie. However, in-universe, the owner kept saying they were closed. It's possible they were closed to repair the roller coaster to make it work but now it's completely destroyed and beyond repair.
Bishop73