525 Classic Cars—from Dragsters to Muscle Cars—Invade Seal Beach

Hide your pink slips—drag racers will be invading Seal Beach today.

More than 500 classic cars, including some famous dragsters, will roll into town for the 24th Annual Seal Beach Car Show hosted by the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce. The city’s largest event each year, the car show draws thousands to gaze at the rows of Corvettes, Mustangs, panel trucks, muscle cars and dragsters that will line Main Street.

The car show’s chairman, Brian Warner, is familiar with the lure of polished chrome, the glisten of sun on a pristine paint job, the smell of engine oil and the deafening roar of a muscle car. Warner has been a car enthusiast his entire life.

“I’ve been working with cars for 45 years and servicing them for 21 years,” he said.  Warner doesn’t currently have any cars of his own. However, “the 525 cars in the show are all mine,” he said. “I kind of look at them as my stepchildren.”

The Seal Beach Car Show is notable for its variety, said Warner. There are 30 different divisions for cars, ranging from antiques and classic cars to pickup trucks and customized panel trucks, as well as Corvettes and Mustangs. Two winners, one drawn out of a hat and the winner of  "best in show" will go on next year's car show T-shirt.

Drag racing fans have a lot to look forward to at this year’s event.  AA/Fuel dragsters of the '60s and '70s, such as Don Garlit's Swamp Rat III, will be on display.  The Swamp Rat III is the first dragster to ever break 250 mph in the quarter-mile.  

Shirley “Cha-Cha” Muldowney’s record-breaking pink dragster will also be there. “The dragster hasn’t been seen in 30 years,” Warner said, “and you shouldn’t call her Cha-Cha.  She’s in her 70s, and she doesn’t like it.” 

Muldowney’s rear motor, top-fuel car has been fully restored by Seal Beach’s David Mandella after being buried in a garage for 30 years.

“What I love the most about racing is the camaraderie we all have between teams and drivers,” Mandella said. “I got into racing because I’m third generation; I was born into it.”  

Mandella has three cars, including Muldowney’s quarter-mile record-breaking dragster.

Erik Dreyer-Goldman, Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce president and car show committee member, has been passionate about cars since he was a kid.  

“I’d say my fondest memory of driving came in my Dad’s MGA,” he said. “It was a 1960, and I took it down to Lion’s Drag Strip, the most famous drag strip in the world, in Long Beach.  I was sitting in the bleachers with my buddy and said, ‘I bet I could beat those cars.’  I was only 16, entered the race and won the class.  I couldn’t bring the trophy home, so I left it with a girlfriend.”

Dreyer-Goldman will get a chance to relive the thrill of the race Saturday when he competes against the winner of the pinewood derby race hosted by Cub Scout pack 116.  The winner will face Dreyer-Goldman, with a $100 scholarship on the line.  

Free parking and transportation to the show can be found at North Marina Drive and Alamitos Bay Landing, and runs from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The car show is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information visit the Chamber of Commerce website.