Weekend parking at Cordova cost these folks $150 for two camping spots (@ $75) -- divided by EIGHT (the number of people in the party); so, each person paid about $18.75 to camp out and party for three days. Owner (in foreground) is Mark Wagoner, 49, East Moline, Ill., shown with daughter, Stephanie, 9. Bus is a 1972 Ford P700 with a gasoline 360 that Mark pulled out of a dump truck and rebuilt. The bus does about a dozen races a year, of all kinds. He tries to get as many friends to go as possible, because "The more people I can get, the less it costs me for gas and parking." PHOTO BY DAVE WALLACE

Outside of those minor conveniences (leave out the Icehouse -- Plank Brewery is alright with me), the race was heaven. It was really a great match race show; small wonder the race has been around for 50 years. Outside of the whimpering in the opening paragraphs and the fact that on three separate occasions I was told I looked like Don Knotts on "Three's Company," I couldn't have been happier.

And to close this in typical reporter-ese, other winners on the weekend were Ray Drew in Randy Henning's "Starship Enterprise" Mustang (Alcohol Funny Car), Dave Jamison (DRO Quick 8 - see Jeff Leonard story), Ted Allen (Super Comp), Dave Hohensee (Box), Terry Heller (No Box), and yours truly in (Doesn't Know How To Box).