Extra Hours For Candidates.

City Hall will be open from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve. The day is a City holiday, but state statutes require candidates for the April election be given an opportunity to file for office on the 24th this year. The County elections office will be open at 8 a.m. for at least an hour to allow for filing of road district candidates.

City elections will be for City Council members. Six council seats will be voted. These include the five usual seats for two year terms, plus a one year term for the remainder of Fourth Ward member Jim McPheeters who resigned his seat. Ron Ferguson was appointed to fill the vacated seat, but is required to be elected to fulfill the remaining year of McPheeters term.

Each of the five wards have two council representatives with one from each ward being elected for a two year term each year.

The five scheduled seats up for election this April will be Chuck Tobrock, Ward 1; Ronnie Wells, Ward 2; J.D. Whitledge, Ward 3; Bill Putnam, Ward 4; and Jim Woestman, Ward 5.

Candidates need twenty-five dollars or 25 signatures from ward voters to file.

NASCAR to the Max

Another piece of the silly season puzzle fell into place recently when John Andretti signed a new contract with Petty Enterprises. Andretti has been with Petty for several years and the sticking point in this contract was reported to be Andretti’s desire to run the Indy Racing League’s Indianapolis 500.

The Indy 500 is an early afternoon race and occurs on the same day as the NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600, which is run in the evening.

Andretti and a few other drivers including Tony Stewart and Robbie Gordon have competed in both on the same day but doing so is a logistics nightmare. To accomplish both involves the driver leaving the track immediately after the 500 is over for a short helicopter ride to the airport where a private jet is boarded for the trip to Charlotte, NC. The driver then exits the jet for another helicopter ride to Lowe’s Motor Speedway, usually just in time for driver introductions. No official word on how Andretti’s contract was ultimately structured.

Several notable veterans are preparing to watch the races next year from an easy chair rather than from the driver’s seat. Ken Schrader, Bobby Hamilton and Jimmie Spencer have combined for over 1300 starts in NASCAR’s premier series but none of them have secured a ride for next year. Hamilton missed several races last season due to injury, Spencer failed to qualify for several events and Schrader has gone through a victory drought dating back over eleven years to June of 1991. Though sporting over 1300 starts, the trio has combined for only 10 victories.

Further complicating matters for some of the veteran drivers has been the success of many of the sports young stars. During the 2002 season 23 of the 36 races were won by drivers 31 years old or younger. Drivers 40 or older only won 10 races. Hamilton, Schrader and Spencer are all in their mid-40’s. The competitive nature of the three will somehow find them behind the wheel.

To the faithful NASCAR to the Max readers, Happy Holidays from the Max.

It’s good ta see that the evenin’ paper has such a good grasp on public sentiment. In yesterday evenin’s editorial told the library board, who has spent the last couple a years developin’ a plan for expansion of the Library, to never mind at this time.

The sky is fallin’ as far as government spendin’ is concerned, accordin’ to the editorial. No need in puttin’ out effort to try and convince folks the expansion would be a legitimate undertakin’, no one will listen, was the wisdom. Wait ‘till folks don’t care about taxes, I suppose, and then do the project.

As I’ve often quoted in the past, "timin’ is the most critical component of any rain dance." But if ya spend your life as a wall flower, ya won’t ever learn how ta dance. Sure it will be a tough sell, but let’s at least hear the pitch.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click & Clack
TALK CARS

By Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

I’ve got a problem I’m sure you guys can help me fix. The power steering on my 1996 Volvo 850 Wagon doesn’t seem to work on cold mornings. The steering is very stiff until I reach the first traffic light on the way to work. Then it works fine. The dealer’s mechanic says the seals are fine and the pump is working OK. The belt is also OK, and the reservoir is full of fluid. This problem only shows up when it’s below 40 degrees outside, and it gets bad below 30. This is a real safety hazard, and I’m afraid to let my wife drive the car. Help! — Bob.

RAY: Geez, Bob. I hope it’s not what it sounds like.

TOM: My brother thinks you have a bad steering rack, Bob.

RAY: Unfortunately, you have the classic symptoms. I still remember when the first car with these symptoms presented itself to us, back around 1982. It was a GM X-body car, like a Chevy Citation. And we wondered, what can this be? This is unusual ...

TOM: And a decade and a half later, about 14 zillion GM owners had new power-steering racks, at 600 bucks a pop. And wait ‘til you see what it costs on a Volvo!

RAY: But before you panic and take out a home equity loan, have your Volvo mechanic check out the pump more thoroughly. The only way to really check the pump is to put a gauge on it and measure how much pressure it’s putting out. So insist that your mechanic do that. And even if the pump seems to be OK, you might ask him to try a new one anyway, since it’s relatively inexpensive.

TOM: But if all else fails, starts saving your pesos, Bob, because a new Volvo rack is around a thousand bucks.