KENNEWICK — Just saw Art Oberto, the patriarch of the family that owns the Seattle company which produces some of the finest dried meats and jerkeys in all the land, in the U-1 camp.

It's his first time in the Tri-Cities in about four years. But he's pretty happy with his company's relationship with the Miss Madison team.

"You know we started sponsoring boats in 1974," Oberto said.

But he never expected to sponsor a boat that has won the national high points championship not once, but three times in a row.

"Are you kidding? Some of the boats we had I was surprised they could make it around the pits."