A few years ago when Paul Branham was one of the pilots of the Boilermaker Special he invited me up for the debut of the Special VII. It is now in year 6 of operation and is going strong, but Purdue’s other special (known as the Special VI or X-tra Special) has seen better days. the current X-tra special is the second, smaller version built on a golf cart chassis and originally debuted in 1979 as Boilermaker Special IV. It was replaced with the current VI on October 19, 1996, so it has been in service for almost 21 years.
All Hail The Debut of Boilermaker Special VIII
