The weather was great, the stands were packed, and the racing was intense at the 50th World Series of Drag Racing.

Premonitions, omens, threats from demons -- my first hit on Jeff Burk, Jeff Leonard's and my 50th Anniversary World Series weekend wasn't all that promising. We hit the bricks at Burk's abode just west of St. Louis, ready for the roughly 300-mile sprint to Cordova, Illinois, which is located in the northwest corner pocket of the state. The initial backdrop was grim with an accent on the "mmmmm," hot and muggy. The official temperature was 96 degrees with the mugginess raising the heat index to just under 190 degrees. Burk and Leonard are rough riders from this area. I'm from Southern California; the only mugginess you feel there is when you're sapped for the wallet and credit cards.

World Series of Drag Racing at Cordova Drag Racing Online Quick 8 at Cordova World Series featurette: Dave Jamison World Series Notes

On this particular morning, I felt like a goldfish that had been sapped and mugged, twisting and sun frying on the kitchen sink. Why, oh why, didn't I stay in that thing filled with water? Just another few seconds of this and it's a Hefty bag filled with coffee grounds and eggshells.

That was Premonition 1.

Premonition 2: the World Series program. Bannered across the top was "WORLD SERIES (1953-2003)." The first World Series was held in 1954. I don't know, I may be irreligious, but I'm not above a good old superstition, a baseless metaphysical surmisal.

And that's all those two things proved to be -- baseless. The weather? The press conference featuring Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, Pro Mod-er Zach Barklage, Jim "Jet" Nielsen, and Cordova track founder Bob Bartels on the Thursday of the race was held on the blacktop of the parking lot at the Quad

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Cities Chamber of Commerce and in climes that rivaled being locked in a wok...one that was in operation.

Other than that, the Cordova Dragway Park Golden Anniversary World Series was everything one could have ever hoped it would be. The steam blew out of town the next day, transmogrifying itself into light, breezy 80-degree temps and a crowd that track owner Scott Gardner said was likely the best ever in track history ... or as long as he'd been the top kick at Cordova.