Shirley Muldowney revs her engine in this vintage photograph provided by the Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo and Car Show.
11:01am | Shirley Muldowney, known as the First Lady of Drag Racing, will be the special guest at the Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo and Car Show this Saturday, July 9.
Muldowney, who was the first woman to win a Top Fuel title and the first racer of either gender to win three world titles, will sign autographs and fire up her restored world championship dragster as part of the event’s Cacklefest.
The Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo and Car Show, which is celebrating its sixth year, will take place from 3 to 9 p.m. on Atlantic Avenue between Roosevelt Road and San Antonio Drive in the Bixby Knolls neighborhood. It is free and open to the public.
Located less than 4 miles from the site of the legendary Lions Drag Strip, the Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo and Car Show combines a static car show featuring more than 200 classic and specialty cars in multiple award categories with a celebration of racing, paying special tribute to Long Beach’s place in racing history.
In addition to featuring many of the famous cars and drivers from the Lions Drag Strip, which operated on the outskirts of Long Beach from 1955 until 1972, the Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo and Car Show also showcases award-winning racing boats and race cars featured in the Long Beach Grand Prix, which is a founding sponsor of the event.
Seventeen vintage Top Fuel dragsters will be taking part in the Lions Drag Strip Cacklefest, the most dragsters to simultaneously fire up their 3000-horsepower engines at the Dragster Expo and Car Show. The final dragster fire-up is a highlight of the evening as the nitro flames leap out of the engines in the dusk of the summer evening.
A special Mickey Thompson tribute display from the NHRA Motorsports Museum will be on exhibit at the Expo Gallery, including several of Thompson’s race cars.
There will also be a professional BMX bike demonstration in celebration of the 40th anniversary since BMX racing was founded in Long Beach.
In addition to the many restaurants and eateries on Atlantic , the event will also feature a number of popular gourmet food trucks, as well as the event’s beer garden. Live music will be featured on three stages throughout the venue.
The Long Beach Airport is sponsoring “the Holdroom”, a new feature this year that will provide a special setting for car show attendees to relax, eat and watch classic racing videos and footage from the Lions Drag Strip on large screen televisions. The TVs will then be given away at the end of the event in an opportunity drawing to benefit the Long Beach Special Olympics, which also receives the net proceeds from the event’s sponsorships.
The Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo and Car Show is a part of the Long Beach Sea Festival and is produced by the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association in cooperation with the office of Long Beach Councilwoman Rae Gabelich.
For more informationt, visit BixbyKnollsCarShow.com or call 562- 595-0081.
Disclosure: The Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo and Car Show is an advertiser of the Long Beach Post.
Photo courtesy of the Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo and Car Show