To be honest with you, I would ship it. Apart from the fact that it will probably be cheaper then flying two people to LA, the fuel and the hotel rooms back, I've driven from ATL to DFW and back 6 times in 2007 and 2008. That's about 1/3 of the drive and i do it in one day.
Unless you're planning to take to take a week and doing the scenic trip, the drive won't be any fun and if something does go wrong, you'll be outside your safety net (Unless of course, you break down in Dallas TX, then I can help you
).