One of our National Advisory Council members wrote me and commented on the high number of tire dealerships which had changed hands last year. He was right. On our website, I found reports on more than 20 transactions!

Recently I took part in a ride-and-drive event sponsored by Michelin North America for its new Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 ultra-high performance all-season tire.

What’s a tire dealer from a small town to do to grab customers’ attention to his dealership’s products and services? Display the world’s largest tire, that’s what.

Tire maker Continental AG is doing very well financially, and its training program is surely playing a large part in its success – now and going forward.

In late November, a research company called Vision Critical surveyed 1,002 randomly selected Americans concerning their attitudes and opinions on tires and driving.

If you’re like me, it has been many years since you took your written driver’s exam. If you were given a pop quiz on it today, would you pass?

I saw one of my favorite tire industry people on one of my favorite TV shows a couple of weeks ago. Corky Coker, president of Coker Tire Co., was featured on the History Channel’s program, “American Pickers.”

According to the AAA, “The current national retail average price for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline is $3.04, up six cents from a week ago, 19 cents from a month ago, and 44 cents from a year ago. This marked the first time that the U.S. has ever nationally spent Christmas Eve with a $3 or greater per gallon price at the pump.”

Here's an interesting item from the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News: 250,000 scrap tires will be shredded and used to cushion the ride and reduce noise on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) commuter train line extension from Fremont to San Jose.

I recently cleaned out my mother’s garage, getting rid of a large volume of paint cans, pesticides, leftover house cleaning solutions and automotive chemicals that my parents had amassed over the years.