Drag Strip Car Show celebrates airport history

Car enthusiasts gathered for the 17th annual Arlington Drag Strip Car Show on Sept. 10, which may be the final year for the event.

The car show at the Arlington Airport celebrates the airport’s history as a race track and typically gathers many dragsters and other a cars for the show.

“This is probably our last year doing it,” said Bill Kinney, organizer for the event. “The car club is getting tired, we’re getting tired,” he said.

Although he added that the organizers are open to passing the event to a new group to continue.

The event went well for its 17th year.

“It’s going great,” said Kinney. He noted that the weather was good and there wasn’t too much smoke out during the event, and that they had a good turnout of people.

“We’ve seen some changes this year. Unfortunately a lot of our old race car friends have passed away so we don’t have as many race cars as we’ve had in years past,” said Kinney.

“The show is sad in one aspect because a lot of our friends are not with us,” he added.

The event also saw electric cars being displayed for the first time.

Participants said they enjoyed coming out to talk about their cars.

“I’m here every year. I like it,” said participant Dan McDowell.

“This is the first time I’ve brought this car [a ’63 split-window Corvette]. Usually I bring a ’55 Oldsmobile that is a hot rod, but this one I keep in the hangar at the Arlington Airport,” he said.

Many people also said they liked the community at the car show.

“I love it,” said participant Dan Worley. “I like everything about it. The cars, the people and even some of the food.”

Kinney has organized the event for many years and said he enjoys getting to know everyone that comes to it.

“I like the camaraderie, meeting all the guys. I’m a car guy myself so it’s fun getting to know everyone,” he said.

The car show features hot rods, race cars and other unusual types of cars that aren’t seen in the typical car show.

“They like the variety, because you get a little bit of everything here,” said Kinney. “You’re finding cars that never go to car shows because they’re usually racing on the weekend."

The event was started in an effort to raise funds for local Boys & Girls Clubs and proceeds of the event are still donated to those local clubs.

Kinney said the current organizers will be looking for a new group to organize for next year if possible.

“If we could find someone that wanted to help, or to take it over, we would be open to that,” he said.