Form the Press-Telegram Long Beach CA.
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_8967401(I like the quote on the Blue Flame by Gary)
Gabelich, perhaps more than any of the inductees, had the need for speed.
The San Pedro native began drag racing at 16 and won the first-ever jet-powered drag race in 1959 - topping 200 mph - at 19 years old.
He's best known for the Blue Flame, his 37-foot, 5,000- pound car powered by a liquid gas-hydrogen peroxide rocket engine that broke the land speed record in 1970 at 622.287 mph. The record stood for 13 years.
Gabelich later developed a love for powerboats and set the National Drag Boat Association record at 200.44 mph in 1969. The year before, he won the American Power Boat Association fuel hydro championship.
Gabelich was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1984. His widow is Long Beach Councilwoman Rae Gabelich, who spoke on his behalf. Gabelich's son Guy and mother Rae also attended.
"It is beyond an honor for Gary to be recognized with two legends of racing," Councilwoman Gabelich said.
While preparing her remarks for Thursday, Gabelich randomly chose one of about 20 books she has on land speed records, trying to find the words to explain why some choose to race the clock instead of each other.
The book she grabbed was "Land Speed Record" by Cyril Posthumus, published in 1971, with a forward written by Gary Gabelich.
In it, he wrote land speed records are "the measure of man's assault ... on speed and time." He also wrote he still looked upon the Blue Flame as "a beautiful woman."
"Today is the most special of all," said Rae Gabelich. "To be recognized in the city he called home ... is an honor."