Warning: Video is loud!
9:00am | The largest array of cars and vintage dragsters yet graced Atlantic Avenue over the weekend for the fifth annual Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo & Car Show, which celebrates automobiles from the hot-rod and muscle car era by lining the streets of Bixby Knolls and lighting up 1,000-horsepower monsters to the cheers of the crowd.
Photos by Dale Brown.
The event was organized this year jointly by the office of 8th District Councilmember Rae Gabelich and the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association. A check for $5,000 was presented to the Long Beach Special Olympics and a raffle to allow winners to sit in the dragsters raised a little extra coin as well.
This year’s show was notably larger than last year’s, as the economy handcuffed the number of cars and events that were allowed. Louder, too. This year saw the return of the dragster fire-ups, which you see in the photos and video posted here. The dragsters come every year to commemorate the old Lions Drag Strip that put Long Beach on the automotive map for many years, and also to remember Councilmember Gabelich’s late husband Gary, a world land speed record holder and Long Beach native.
What did you think of this year’s show? Send your photos to [email protected] and we’ll add them to the article.
