I am stepping down as President of the Pro Sportsman Association

Hi Guys This is Ray Drew

Rest assured the PSA will still exist!! Yes, the PSA is going thru a much needed reorganization but I will pick up the pieces and get things in order very quickly!
Many positives changes are going to be in order and yes we will continue to have the services of Todd Veney! Geno, I apologize for not responding but i never saw your email! I will be making many announcements tomorrow and in the forth coming days. The PSA will need the support and help from everyone to make this successful! Please do not give up on us. The PSA has made huge advancements for the awareness of Alcohol racing and we have even better ideas for the upcoming year!. The PSA is headed in a very positive direction. So Stay tuned for more news! I will post things here as the as the PSA site which will be getting a makeover!
Please feel free to contact me with any concerns, idea and volunteer help!
my work email is ray@kwmfg.com or cell is 414-870-2181
Ray Drew

 

Psa

Ray Thank You for the response. Will you be posting how many members the PSA currently has ? Sorry I could not make it to the meeting in Indy. Will the current members be able to vote on what direction The PSA should proceed ? I will continue to support the PSA but would like to know a little more. I will look forward to your coming News. Thank You
Geno

 

Better Coverage

Being a retired alcohol racer I think one of the biggest things they should do is get NHRA to show the first round of eliminations at national events. This would make a more complete and enjoyable show and give more cars more coverage as far as sponsors go. This is one of the biggest things that could be done as far as spectators and friends and sponsors I have talked to. Just my 2 cents worth. Thanks Richard Putz

 

Rich,
I will along with my brother Vic, will be alky racers once again,
We totally agree with the air time you mention,
With that said,We have a relative that worked for ESPN ( John Terenzio )
Although I never met him personally I will contact him and ask if he can do something
to help our cause, If he can GREAT, If not it cant hurt to ask,I'm sure he wont kill me,LOL.
Gene & Victor Terenzio
Terenzio Bros Racing.

 

Geno, Yes we will be posting our membership list and as a member your input is very valuable as well as your help!
Richard and Gene good ideas! However something like that as many variables but as we discuss things I sure that issue can be brought up.
Remember the PSA is about making the alcohol classes a recognizable force in the NHRA Drag racing world. We have a solid foundation that is moving forward!
The PSA needs many more members to make this organization work!
As I said I will have some announcements later today!So Stay Tuned
Ray Drew

 

If you have an opinion about the PSA but don't want to express it on a public forum, email me at tv@toddveney.com. I'd like to know what people think.

 

Well Todd, your question is really a bit of a setup in my view. You ask to be told everything that is wrong and if someone were to do that, the messenger becomes a hated person for having delivered the information requested.
There are plenty of problems and many of them spread well outside the sphere of the PSA mandate. I think that I could give you a pretty good list if I put pen to paper. But to what end? If something bothers me enough I typically confront it myself and either get it resolved or learn to live with it. The PSA specifically has not honored it's mandate to me but I am not upset about it as my expectations were not high nor focused on its output.
Examples? The PSA web site will not let me in and or does not work. I was the #1 Gold crew membership last year; Will popped up and said a feature article would be done on each gold, silver and bronze level first member; none were done, and I don't want one, I kicked in the $ to help, thats it. We won the fall Vegas regional race, argueably the single toughest race of the year in any location. Not a single scratch of pen to paper. That race had 3 Canadian cars in the semifinals...What a story line! Nothing.We ended 2012 as the highest point earning car in the Jegs allstars; nothing. We just won the Phoenix regional event and look at our side of the ladder, Demke, St Arnaud (RU @ the Vegas fall regional) and Whiteley. Nothing. We still are the high point car in the Jegs deal country wide. Nothing. I dont do face book but Ray does and he told me that in less than a day after the Phoenix win he had over 5000 hits on his face book page. I guess that makes me wonder whether the PSA is in a bit of a pond for coverage and ignoring the world's oceans.
For me though there are many issues between the NHRA, the Tracks and the racers that the PSA could provide a unified voice for that has not been met and that is the area that I am disappointed in. Having said that, I also know how tough it is to make progress in that arena.
OK, now go ahead and kill the messenger I guess. By the way, I'm not much of a private message type of guy, if you have something to say, just pop right out and say it. And as another aside, I applaud your whole group for the effort it has made and I know there is little reward for you guys for your efforts.
Jeff Johnsen

 

Jeff,
No need to kill the messenger in your case, or in any case. Everybody has different insight and opinions as to what actually should be done with regards to publicity and efforts. Opinions and thoughts are always needed because most organizations need the extra perspective. As someone who was on the board and trying to assist where I can these days I can tell you that the website has been an ongoing struggle. I don't want to speak out of turn, but in talking to some of the Alcohol community, a change in direction was needed.

With regards to feature stories and things of that nature, all I can tell you is that by the Fall, we had an all volunteer staff. Our writer was volunteering his time, and I'm sorry we never got any extra ink for the team's accomplishments.

That being said, the PSA is going through a restructuring with Will stepping down. There are different ideas out there about what PR really is and it sounds like the direction the PSA is currently headed is one at more of a racer to fan level. What I mean is more involvement of alcohol racers during the race doing things like autograph sessions and creating a better fan experience at the Regional and National events.

It's nice to have feature stories written about you, but in the drag racing community, where does it really take you? We're writing stories for people who are already associated with drag racing, which is good for awareness among the current fans and sponsors, but doesn't really draw anybody new. If the scope is to raise awareness overall, we need to reach out at a ground level. Show people how bitchin' these cars really are and how cool the drivers and people working on them really are by taking the time to interact with them, sign their shirts or hero cards and do things to draw some attention our way. I think most can agree this should yield better results than writing stories alone. Frugal ways to engage the fans.

Other than that, I can't speak to much, but I'm fairly excited to see what can become of changing the focus.

 

I agree with what you have said Justin and I continue to support what you guys are doing and, like you, I plan on standing on the loud peddle as hard as I can for our team's program in 2013.
Jeff Johnsen

 

hey Jeff Johnsen:

actually, I put that on there because not everybody wants to run their mouth on a message board

as for the PSA Website, you're absolutely right

as for "there will be a story on every crew person," that's the first I've heard of it

as for "not a single scratch of pen to paper" on Vegas, what are you talking about? There was a story on that race just like other 23, emailed to the same 38 outlets that got all the rest

as for me not writing a story about you winning Phoenix the other day, maybe you heard: the PSA hadn't existed for a while. They ran out of money halfway through last year. Ray just committed to bringing it back to life last week

as for "the messenger becomes a hated person," I've never written anything bad about anyone on any message board ever

as for "I'm not much of a private message type of guy," that's you. I'm not much of a MF-other-people-on-the-Internet guy

 

Easy Todd. Remember Jeff is Canadian..... ha ha just trying to lighten the mood!

Jeff, Congrats on a nice job in Pomona and Phoenix. You are making that car run well.

 

Well thats way worse than I would have anticipated including closing with the F bomb.
The first I have read about problems @ PSA was Will's announcement in this thread, I guess I'm not in the loop? I don't really know how I would get more info re the insolvency you mention, nor would I want to.
Re the crew articles, Will announced here that he would have a story done on the first member at each $ level. I did not/do not want that, have not sought attention & do not want attention. However, others may and it was one thing I was aware of and you asked for input re issues.
Re the 38 publications, don't know what those all are but I would have thought that anything sent out would have been run here but that was just my thought and you say I'm wrong so that's fine with me.
At the end of the day you requested input, clearly did not like to hear mine and responded in the language and manner that you did. I do feel badly that you are so offended and I will make every effort to avoid interacting with you in the furture.
Jeff Johnsen

 

Jeff,
Not to fight anyone's battles for them and know we appreciate your support. But Todd essentially wound up volunteering his services after he was contracted for a certain amount and only wound up being paid half the contracted amount because we fell short on membership. That was our fault as the board for not only promising too much, but also failing to bring in members to cover his contract. He also took his story cues from us on the board. Almost all the shortcomings are the fault of us on the board. Todd takes his writing and role in helping the PSA seriously, and he took your opinions personally. Like telling your plumber friend who comes and plumbs your house for free what else he should have done for you.

The PSA was not only in no position to offer Todd any contract to write for us early in the season. All of us on the board were insanely busy with our day jobs on top of getting cars ready. We let the PSA slip through the cracks. We had our IMIS meeting, made a couple of posts, Ray met with D3 track owners, I met with D5 tracks at our banquet. Made some progress with the divisions and tracks, lots of great ideas. From mid January until about two weeks ago, the PSA board was silent. No one had anything but uncertainty in their minds. Todd and David Smith were caught in the mess of uncertainty, and we've put them through a lot, so please cut Todd some slack.