A demolished derby car from the Stoughton Fair

"You want a car with a full tube frame. A lot of Chevies have C-channel frames. With a full channel, you've got double C-channels that form a box," he said. "This is a 2000 Ford Crown Vic with a Chevy 350, Turbo 400, a special drive shaft and a special Chevy rear end. And it'll be destroyed by the end of the night. There are lines lines coming up from my radiator to that old army box back there. We'll put ice in that and that's my tranny box. I've got a five-gallon boat tank behind the drivers seat. A lot of it is in how you set the car up, motor and tranny, and then it's all luck and driving."

Schwoerer ended up taking fourth place in the feature, during which his car was rendered inoperable. At the Stoughton derby, the cars are pushed off the track by Bobcats and as I stood in the pits after the derby, Schwoerer's car was ushered past me. This was taken with my digital camera, so the quality isn't great and you can't really make out Schwoerer giving me the thumbs up as he slides by.

You can, however, get a good look at how misshapen and crunched up his car was after competing in two heats -- qualifying and feature -- of demolition derby. A "before" shot is available at right.