FAIRLY GOOD: Folks at the Orange County...

FAIRLY GOOD: Folks at the Orange County Fair, which ends Sunday, have already started chalking up some numbers. Barbecue seems to be the food favorite: Three barbecue houses are placing in the top five food vendors, beating out corn dog and cotton candy stands. . . . In the livestock pens, farm youngsters made $152,000 selling 286 animals, including 151 hogs, 77 sheep and 43 beef cows. Helen Shelby of La Habra Heights got top dollar: Her 1,200-pound steer “Sampson” sold for $3.35 a pound.

SMOKE WARS: You might want to let your cotton candy settle before wandering over to the anti-smoking van that hits the fair today. It’s the Barfboro Barfing Team mobile, sponsored by a nationwide doctors group. Its purpose is to ridicule Marlboro cigarette’s promotions for its Marlboro Adventure Team. Says anti-smoking spokesman Dr. Alan Blum of Houston: “Young people respond to humor, not warning labels.” . . . Why Orange County? It’s home to the Mission Viejo Co., Blum says, a subsidiary of Marlboro-maker Philip Morris Cos.

STEPPING IN: Robby Gordon, 24, of Orange isn’t afraid of pressure. He was the focus of A.J. Foyt’s team at the Indianapolis 500 car race after the legendary Foyt abruptly retired. . . . And Tuesday, Gordon was named to take over the No. 28 Ford previously driven by Davey Allison for Sunday’s stock car race in Talladega, Ala. (C3). Allison died July 13 after a helicopter crash. . . . “I know it’s a big risk,” says Gordon, who has driven only once before on the top stock-car circuit.

KIDS’ RESORT: Parents know some day-care centers are better than others. Which is why the Grace Hoag Cottage Child Daycare Center in Costa Mesa is boasting about new accreditation by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. Fewer than 300 statewide have achieved it, and it took the nonprofit center, run by the Assistance League of Newport-Mesa, a year of paperwork to get there. Says director Rita Jamieson: “It’s like a four-star rating for a hotel.”