Wed, 30 Oct 2013, 11:14 AM Pro Sportsman Association Progress Report

By Todd Veney/ Pro Sportsman Association

Opening the Lucas Oil Drag Racing season with a new president, Alcohol Funny car racer and former track owner Ray Drew, the Pro Sportsman Association moved forward with attainable, measureable goals for 2013: connect with the fans in the stands, continue providing race reports from every regional event and expand into national event coverage, and work more closely with NHRA and track operators.

"NHRA is on board with what we're doing, and is looking to do more in 2014," Drew said. "PSA representatives were at the off-season meetings with NHRA Division Directors and track operators in almost all of the divisions, and I think that the tracks that worked with us the closest this year - Chicago, Earlville, and Norwalk - are the ones that had the best results."

The restructured organization created a fan-awareness program and implemented it with autograph sessions on prime real estate behind the main grandstands at a majority of national and regional events that put the stars of Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car up close and personal with fans. Also new for 2013 were a series of double-sided full-color hero cards, customized for different regions and distributed in the pits and at autograph sessions.

"We're showing our series sponsor that we appreciate their involvement and are helping to drive traffic to their midway displays with the autograph sessions," Drew said. "Forrest Lucas and his staff have really noticed, and the NHRA staff has too. Forrest showed up at several of the autograph sessions, he supports us, and I think he really understands what we we're trying to do. It wasn't just a slam-dunk deal - it took a couple of months of back-and-forth with NHRA to put a package deal together that they liked and wanted to work with. The people at Lucas Oil have noticed, NHRA has noticed, and with more members, we can do a lot more in 2014."

For information, contact Drew at rdrew@wi.rr.com.