Car abuse seems to be as popular as ever (a carryover from the days when you whipped your horses), and the burnout contest packs the stands every time. The fans just love it when you pop a tire or two. So do the photogs who have their faces inches away from those spinning rear tires so they can justify their magazine putting them up at the Motel 7 (cheaper than Motel 8) by coming back with the "right shot" (and maybe one eye).

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Drag racing at the Nats is always a big draw. There are shootouts galore. Rear-drive shootouts, Front-drive shootouts. If there were side-drive cars, there would shootouts for them as well. Some 900 passes were made down National Trail's quarter-mile over the course of the event (yup, the two race cars that showed up made 450 passes each) and some 16 grand in cash was up for grabs.

When the track shuts down for the evening, the action shifts over to Brice Road for the rolling car show. Cruising Brice has become a time-honored tradition, as has provoking the cops by "squeaking the tires." The cops neck the four-lane street down to two lanes at one point for some unknown reason, just to bust chops. Everybody thinks Brice is a big deal, but it's really kind of boring. You do get to see a cool Mopar going by once in a while, but its mixed in with the mundane local traffic. Spectators line up in their lawn chairs way ahead of time for prime viewing area. These folks probably would get off watching peas roll down a pipe.

The big action on Brice is at the Red Roof Inn. Aside from whatever is going on behind closed doors ("Don't do it for me, sweetheart, do it for Chrysler"), the parking lot is turned into Burnout City. But with huge crowds pressing in on all sides of a car boiling its hides, it's a disaster waiting to happen. If a car happens to hook or slide, there's just nowhere for the crowd to go. Fortunately, nothing terrible happened, but the Mo'fans can't push their luck forever.

With the 24th annual Mopar Nationals such a rousing success, Jim Bielenda decided he'd do it all over again next year on August 12-14. You can get all the details, as well as all of this year's show and go winners on their website, www.moparnats.org.

While Chrysler (the company) may be bought and sold, chopped up and infused with foreign genes, and have its named changed, the Mopar Nats will always be...profitable.