Expo, car show in Bixby Knolls

LONG BEACH - Shirley Muldowney, known as the First Lady of Drag Racing, will be the special guest at the Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo and Car Show taking place Saturday.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. The expo and car show is free to attend and takes place from 3-9 p.m. on Atlantic Avenue between Roosevelt Road and San Antonio Drive in the Bixby Knolls neighborhood of Long Beach. Located less than four miles from the site of the legendary Lions Drag Strip, the car show features more than 200 classic and specialty cars in multiple award categories. In addition to featuring many of the famous cars and drives from the Lions Drag Strip, which operated on the outskirts of Long Beach from 1955-1972, the car show also showcases award-winning racing boats and race cars featured in the Long Beach Grand Prix. Seventeen vintage Top Fuel dragsters will take 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. A 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 restaurants on Atlantic Avenue, the event will also feature gourmet food trucks and a beer garden. Live music will be featured on three stages. The Long Beach Airport is sponsoring "the Holdroom," a new feature this year where car show attendees can eat, relax and watch classic racing videos and footage from the Lions Drag Strip on large-screen televisions. The TVs will be raffled at the end of the night, with proceeds benefiting the Long Beach Special Olympics. For more information about the Bixby Knolls Dragster Expo and Car Show, call (562) 595-0081 or go to bixbyknollscarshow.com.

********** Published: July 7, 2011 - Volume 10 - Issue 12