Otis Anderson adopted the Dragon Special for a few years and drove the parade car in several parades along with other MSU colleagues. Otis had a special bond to the car and would somehow keep it running through the parades. The car never had to be pushed or pulled back to the Physical Plant building. Of course it did not hurt that Lloyd Ness, the auto mechanic, spent several hours working on the car to prep it for a run.
Judy Strong tells the story of Bob
Badahl driving or "buzzing" the Concordia cheerleaders during a parade. He
yelled out how MSU was going to win just as the Dragon Special stalled again in the middle
of the parade.
In the fall of 1997 during the Valley Fest days parade on the weekend of the Crystal Bowl
Game, Judy Strong of MSU was in the old Ford Dragon Special parade car. It "burned
out" in the course of the parade. This was indeed a sad day for MSU. Judy and company
had to push the car back to campus.
After the "traumatic" incident Todd Stugelmayer, Physical Plant director,
realized that something had to be done with the car. The car was stored for the winter and
never given another thought.
In June of 1998 David Crockett became aware of the city of Dilworth’s Burlington
Northern Train replica and inquired about its use during MSU’s July 4th celebration.
It was a hit! The lines were long and the train, driven and managed by Ben Blair, ran
non-stop for several hours.
In the fall 1998, Todd pondered about what the Physical Plant could do to replace the
aging and failing Dragon Special parade car. Luckily there was no fall parade to drive the
car in. Todd wondered what the Physical Plant could build that would be parade worthy but
still be respectful enough not to embarrass the university. The July 4th event would also
have to be taken into consideration because the ride would also be used in the celebration
as an attraction.
Todd looked at several university ties including the Dragon mascot. Up to this time there
were few Dragon cars built by various departments. Even Otis Anderson had previously
talked of converting the Dragon Special into a real "dragon." After reviewing
the constructability of a dragon, we decided not to do it. We referred to the history of
the valley and the prestige Moorhead State University when deciding what the new parade
car would be. The vote came in and we decided that a railroading history was prevalent in
the area. Even though railroading history is not specifically tied to MSU, it would fulfill the parade and July 4th ride attraction requirements.