Seal Beach Car Show - April 27 (1)

Saturday, April 27

Nimbus rider Leif Gyldenstrand shows up at breakfast. He's 88, still sharp and good for some stories about how his dad as a mailman delivered King Christian 10th's wages once a month. Mailmen did that back then. It was during WW2, so the king (described in Carl Madsen's books as 'a reactionary officer of remarkable stupidity') would give him a cigar to take home. Quite a luxury at this time, and I do like the idea that the king would have had to get the cigars on the black market. Maybe.

Then Nimbus rider # 2 Dave Jensen comes over and we head for the 31th annual car show down on Main Street. Having seen innumerable perfect classics and custom cars over the decades, it takes something special to excite me. So when I see Shirley Muldowney's pink dragster stand there in all its glory, I know it was worth going here.

For those not recognizing her name, Shirley Muldowney was the first woman to compete at the very top level in drag racing. When trying to compete in the top classes, the organizers and other race teams wouldn't even want to let her race, claiming that at this level it was much too dangerous for women.

Right.

She fought back hard, became the first woman to receive a license to drive a top fuel dragster, and won the championship three times. The beasts she drove make thousands upon thousands of horsepower, and accelerate down the quarter mile from 0 to 300 mph (520 km/t) in seconds, and brake with the aid of a parachute. Her last run before she retired at age 63 was at a bit over 5 seconds.

One of Shirley Muldowneys dragsters.

Like the Tuskegee Airmen - the black pilots from WW2 mentioned in a previous post - my admiration for her is in large part because she fought and won on several fronts at once: Breaking the gender barrier, being remarkably succesful as a racer, and - just as important - doing it all on a shoestring budget. She wasn't present here at the show, but one of the women standing at the dragster told in great length about her, so I learned a lot more about the woman than I already knew.

1938 Bentley 4.25 litre Black Prince, clad in some very special bodywork.

US Marines - pick'em as young as possible....

Ratrods like this unusually detailed example have become more and more popular over the years.

Subaru kei car.

One of many traditional hotrods.

Police forces many places all over the nation have received used military equipment, for their SWAT teams. As a result, 'swatting' (calling the police and having them send a SWAT team to an unsuspecting person's house, by claiming - say - there's a hostage situation) has been used as some sort of sick joke - occasionally with lethal results.

Pinstriping with a message.