2nd Annual Fall Ball.

The Carthage Family Y 2nd Annual Fall Ball will be held at the Carthage Municipal Golf Course this Friday, August 20th.

Tickets may be purchased from one of the Y Board members or at the Y’s front desk at a cost of $5 for one, 3 golf balls for $10, or 6 for $20. Anyone who purchases 6 golf balls for $20 gets dinner included.

There will also be a Chipping contest from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Dinner (Hot Dogs/Chips/Drink) at 5:00 p.m. & the Ball Drop right around dinner time.

The person who has his/her golf ball go in the bottom of cup or the closest to the cup in the event that no ball makes it into the cup, will win $1,000 cash.

All proceeds benefit the YMCA.

See one of these Y Board Members to buy a ticket: Travis Almandinger, Bill Phelps, Dr. Mark Baker, Catie Platt, Chuck Bryant, Danny Ross, Tom Carlton, Patrick Scott, Cheryl Calhoon, Dean Sexton, GA Flesher, Nancy Frerer, Susan Williams, Lea Ann Keeling, Steve Wilson, John Nicholas.

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Sponsored by Chad's Garage

Allmendinger Wants to be "Top Guy"

A.J. Allmendinger hasn’t enjoyed many NASCAR weekends as successful as the one he just completed in Watkins Glen, N.Y.

The Los Gatos, Calif., native was highly successful in the Champ Car World Series, but the Sprint Cup Series has been a struggle since he joined Team Red Bull in 2007 and Richard Petty Motorsports in 2009. Allmendinger finished 24th in the 2009 Sprint Cup point standings and currently resides in 22nd place.

Just days after Petty and Foster Gillett of RPM announced that Allmendinger’s contract as driver of the No. 43 Ford has been extended, he celebrated by finishing fourth in the Heluva Good at the Glen. His career best, by the way, was a third in the 2009 Daytona 500.

"We are definitely not where we want to be ... right now, but I see the potential and want to keep building a team around me that continues to get better," said Allmendinger, 28. "We want to reach a point where we compete for a win every weekend and hopefully, eventually, get a championship. That is the goal."

A championship is certainly a long way off, but Allmendinger doesn’t shy away from the task at hand. He said he talked to other teams, but decided to remain at RPM, in part, because of Kasey Kahne’s departure at season’s end.

Allmendinger wants to be "the guy."

"Yeah, that was a big selling point," he said. "I am ready to be a leader of this race team. It’s something that I thrive on and excites me every day to know that I can be the guy. I have the confidence in myself to know I can lead this team and represent it to the best of its abilities."

After finishing fourth at Watkins Glen, Allmendinger said, "The car was really strong all day. We didn’t have anything for the ‘42’ (Juan Montoya). He was on another planet. But for the others (runner-up Kurt Busch and third-place Marcos Ambrose), I felt like maybe we had something for them.

"It was a solid day. It was a good day in the pits. We need to build on this. It’s really cool to sign a multi-year deal and have a great weekend."

Overall I’d have ta say the egg has gotten a bad rap.

Egg on your face, egghead, rotten egg, etc. At least one rotten egg doesn’t ruin the barrel. The egg has ta be onea natures most versatile foods. Fry ‘em, boil ‘em, poach ‘em, pickle ‘em, put ‘em in your beer. Folks have figured ‘bout ever’ way possible to prepare the little gems, includin’ eatin’ ‘em raw (not one of my favorite topics). As a kid we used ta put a raw egg in a milk shake and didn’t think much of it, but I prefer eggs fully cooked at this time of life. Maybe a soft center for dippin’ the toast.

‘Course my favorite use of the egg is in a nice fluffy meringue. Who married Snow White? Egg white, get the yoke?

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin.’

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CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

Dear Tom and Ray:

I enjoy your column every week. In our cars, the headlights turn off automatically when we exit the vehicle, so there’s no danger of leaving the lights on and draining the battery. So my wife and I just leave the headlights on all the time when we’re driving. I think if anything, this is safer, as does she. Is there any reason not to drive with the headlights on all the time? What about the fog lights? Unless you have a reason not to, we’ll continue to doit. Thanks. --Bob

Tom: the only real downside is that you’ll have to replace your headlight bulbs more often.

Ray: But if you’re willing to pay that price for the additional visibility you get, you’re certainly not doing any damage to the car.

Tom: It does take a little bit of energy to power the headlights, and that energy ultimately comes from the gasoline. So your mileage will be reduced by a very small degree. It might not even be measurable to you, but it will make a small difference.

Ray: All of this applies to the fog lights and driving lights, too. I would caution against leaving auxiliary driving lights on, because they’re often the equivalent of your bright lights.

Tom: but we agree with you --driving with your lights on is safer. The easier you are to see, the more likely that other drivers will see you. And if you’re willing to pay the price in bulbs and gas mileage, light it up baby.