A couple things, in 77 we had two tours, three weeks mid june to early july, two weeks at home for local shows, and then off late July until Nationals, which were a week later than today's championships. We were on the road a lot.
There was a block on the last day of prelims for the previous year's top 12 and a few corps who were competitive in that strata, which Oaklands were in. We went on just after Bridgemen and before Cavaliers (I think). The order was random for the top 20 or so and according to postmark for entry for everyone else.
We were leading the pack in drum scores for a few weeks, and having looked at some of the recaps since last night, by a lot compared to today's one tenth spreads.
Regards,
John