‘Light ’em up’: Rod Run 2022 makes up for lost time
Published 1:22 pm Monday, September 12, 2022
- Classic cars and trucks of nearly every make and model line Pacific Avenue during the popular Rod Run cruise on Saturday, Sept. 10 in Long Beach.
LONG BEACH PENINSULA — It was a weekend of chrome, rumbling engines, fast cars and a slow drag.
The 39th annual Rod Run took center stage last weekend, drawing thousands of car aficionados from around the Pacific Northwest for a weekend of car-related revelry.
See the Sept. 21 edition of the Chinook Observer for a list of winners. Many more photos are available online and others will be published with the annual winners roster.
The popular classic car show, held last Saturday and Sunday and hosted by the Beach Barons Car Club, capped a full summer of events — some returning for the first time following a two-year covid-related hiatus. After a somewhat modest start for registered early entries at the Wilson Field grounds in Ocean Park, interest soared with an unofficial estimate of well over 900 participating vehicles.
The first related event purred into life Friday in Ilwaco, where the 20th annual slow drag competition drew a crowd camped along Howerton Avenue.
John Vetter, driving a 1966 Chevy Caprice, was crowned champion and will be immortalized on a t-shirt by artist Don Nisbett, who honors the winner with the artwork each year.
As usual, official Rod Run entries were greatly supplemented by others who brought their cherished vehicles to the beach for an end-of-summer bash. Streets, highways and businesses were packed.
On Saturday, worsening smoky conditions from ongoing Oregon and Washington wildfires cast a sepia tone over the popular Rod Run cruise, where hundreds in classic cars departed from Wilson Field in Ocean Park and drove south along Sandridge before looping back through Long Beach on Pacific Avenue. Thousands gathered along the route, many waving from driveways, some piled in pickup beds and countless others lined streets in lawn chairs.
The blinking-light intersections at Pacific and Bolstad and Pacific and Sid Snyder served as unofficial gathering spots, where crowds of onlookers cheered revving engines and screeching tires. One person waved a sign imploring motorists to “Light ‘em up.” Many obliged, including one driver whose antics caught the attention of nearby police officers, who issued a verbal warning.
