YMCA Takes Over Outdoor Soccer.

Starting this spring, the Fair Acres Family YMCA will be running the Outdoor Youth Soccer program for Carthage & surrounding communities for boys and girls ages 4-14. All games will take place at the Fair Acres Sports Complex adjacent to the Y.

"We’re excited about the opportunity to extend YMCA Character-Development values and for the confidence the City of Carthage has placed in us to manage the program," said Bob Brower, Y Executive. "Our goal is to provide youth & families the same quality services they’ve come to expect from us in our other programs, such as basketball, volleyball, swim teams, indoor soccer, after school child care, summer camps & more."

Registration for the Y’s Outdoor Youth Soccer program is underway now. Individuals may register at the Y at 2600 S. Grand Ave. in Carthage. Registration forms are also available on the Y’s website at www.fairacresymca.com

Deadline for registration is March 15th. Practices will begin March 29th and games will start in April.

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Sponsored by Curry Automotive

Owner Waltrip Wants His Team in the Chase

Michael Waltrip seems to be building a first-class NASCAR team, but he will no longer lead the charge from behind the wheel.

A winner of four official races (and what is now the Sprint All-Star race) and four poles in his Sprint Cup career, Waltrip will compete in only a few races as a driver this year. He will turn over his NAPA Chevrolet to Martin Truex Jr., with the Toyota’s number changing from 55 to 56. Waltrip will enter his own No. 51 at Daytona International Speedway in the Budweiser Shootout and Daytona 500.

"When I think about going to Daytona, I get excited because I know how to win that race," said Waltrip, who won the 500 in 2001. "I finished seventh at Talladega this past October and seventh in the Daytona 500 last year. I know I can go win that race, and that makes me smile.

"When I think about California and Vegas, I just haven’t performed at the level that makes me say, ‘I’m going to go out there and do the same thing.’"

Michael Waltrip Racing fields Toyotas for Truex, David Reutimann and, by a cooperative arrangement, Marcos Ambrose. The team is co-owned by Waltrip and Robert Kauffman.

Reutimann nearly made the Chase for the Sprint Cup last year and gave MWR its first victory in one of NASCAR’s more prestigious races, the Coca-Cola 600 at (now) Charlotte Motor Speedway. Waltrip said he expects at least one of his drivers to make the Chase this year.

"I couldn’t have sat in front of you in January 2009 and said that, because there wasn’t any history to support it," he said. "But we have the history now to say it’s a real possibility."

Michael is the younger brother of three-time Cup champion Darrell Waltrip, now a Fox television analyst. He plans to compete this year in occasional Camping World Truck Series races with Billy Ballew Motorsports.

I’ve had the opportunity to see the ruts left by the settlers crossin’ the Santa Fe trail. Curious thing those records of passage. Years after any horse drawn implement has been moved over, they still sit as a monument to the traffic. The comin’ of the railways no doubt changed the patterns of growth and the survival of small communities along the once popular trail.

If you stand in the silence, you can almost hear the braying of some lonesome old mule still searchin’ for the good old days when four legged creatures dictated the path to the future. It is a romantic time to read about in some book, but the current realities of transportation and the fluid changes in economic factors make the horse and buggy days a lot less appealing.

This is some fact, but mostly

Just Jake Talkin’.

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CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

Dear Tom and Ray:

It turns out that lead wheel weights are the biggest source of lead in California’s waterways. There is a bill that would ban them in favor of safer alternatives, especially stainless steel. My question is, exactly what do wheel weights do? I know they are used to balance the wheels, but what exactly does that mean? - Ang

Ray: Wheel and tire combinations are not born balanced, Ang. In that way, they’re like my brother.

Tom: Right. But unlike me, wheels and tires can be balanced fairly easily. When we say "balanced," we mean that the weight of the wheel-tire combination is evenly distributed so the wheel won’t wobble.

Ray: When a steel wheel or a rubber tire comes off the assembly line, it doesn’t always come out perfectly. Oh, it’s close. So close that if you drove on it at speeds up to 30 or 35 mph, it would seem perfect, and you’d never know the difference.

Tom: But once you get up to 40 mph or so, those small imperfections in weight balance will make your car shake like a half-prepared fruit smoothie still whirling around in the blender.

Ray: Why are these products not perfect? The metal or rubber poured into the mold might not be entirely homogeneous - meaning the materials used might not be blended perfectly. Think about pancake batter and the occasional pocket of flour you come across. It’s not that extreme in wheel and tire production, but it doesn’t take much of an imperfection to be noticeable at high speeds.

Ray: There’s absolutely no reason why tire dealers and repair shops can’t use stainless or "powdered" steel weights instead of lead weights. They cost almost the same, maybe a few pennies more.