Teams

Knuckleberry Express

Garage Headquarters: Waddol, AZ

Driver: John Swaugor

Mechanics: Steven Dahho, Anton Frobenius, David Patterson, John Wallick, Kaeryn Lapsley

Nuts and Bolts:

John Swauger really wants to ride a rhino. Specifically, a rhino named Bam Bam at the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield, Arizona. As a maintenance worker for the zoo, you’d think Swauger would have an in – but unfortunately his boss refuses to allow it. So he’s ready to take a spin in Seattle on the next best thing, a rhino-shaped soapbox racer.

Swauger, along with his teammates, are constructing their animalistic automobile out of steel, cardboard and fiberglass. The building process seems a little nerve-wracking when you consider the team’s history of mishaps: between the five of them they’ve had 33 broken bones, six concussions, one finger and one leg sewn back on – “all in the name of having fun,” according to Swauger. That being as it may, he has a little experience in this arena, having competed in the Pheonix JC’s soapbox derby race in 1973. His excitement at getting a second chance behind the wheel over thirty years later is evident: “Soapbox means building something wild and crazy that will put a smile on a kid’s face when it passes by, and make dads everywhere holler, “Holy crap! Did you see that thing?” No doubt Bam Bam would be equally impressed.