14th Annual Dr. George Car Show

Last year I was unable to attend the 13th Annual Dr. George Car Show due to arthroscopic surgery on my right knee. It also kept me from attending the Grand National Roadster Show and Barrett Jackson. I was sorrowfully sidelined. But this year I’m happy to say I’m 100% and made all three events with no issues to speak of this time around!

The 14th Annual Palm Springs Cruisin’ Association Dr. George Car Show is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Sebastian George, who was a nationally prominent oncologist and co-founder of the Desert Cancer Foundation. Dr. George passed away following a tragic traffic accident in June of 2002, and since the car show’s 2003 inception honoring his memory, it has raised over $543,000, which equates to $4.18 million in cancer treatment services… Yes, that’s correct. Unbelievable. Congratulations to all!

My wife Carol and I made the run to the 2016 Indian Wells Tennis Garden happening in our track roadster, and enjoyed the early morning ride to the event spearheaded by Palm Springs Cruisin’ Association (PSCA) president Ross McMullin, and Tim Smartt, steering committee show chairman. The show drew 1000-plus cars (by the way it SOLD OUT this year) from surrounding areas and the greater southwest in general, raising in excess of $55,000! The entire club works extremely hard on this affair—what an accomplishment! What’s really cool is the wide-ranging display of cars gathered on the greenest grass in recent memory, especially during the SoCal’s unfortunate protracted drought.

Basically, if your ride is a clean representive of the car culture, then you’re in. As in years past, along with hot rods, late models, bikes, exotics, and muscle cars were an exorbitant number of street semi-customs, really top of the line.

Most local car clubs were in attendance and larger in presence than ever before, at at least from what I could recall. Chad McQueen was taking in the show and selected his favorite car before heading back to town. In fact, at the SO-CAL Speed Shop open house, it’s the PSCA who handle the un-nerving chore of parking all the rods and customs that show up for the pre-Father’s Day bash. I am forever grateful to Ross and the crew for the time and energy they faithfully donate to the car culture throughout the year…season after season! By the way, you’re invited to the SO-CAL Open House this year, our 20th. We’re also celebrating Alex Xydias’ SO-CAL Speed Shop’s 70th Anniversary. Wow, seven decades of “Speed & Power”. That’s Friday, June 17th, 2016, 1:00 to 6:00pm.

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