USMA Home 
It has been a long time since I posted news on our web page. Many things have happened along the way in USMA. So many new cruisers that do not know the USMA world.
First, all members and most fellow cruisers know that USMA and I have retired from producing car shows and cruise nights. Not for any other reason than our workers, awesome staff have gotten a little older, wanted to retire, tired of getting up early and working late. It became more of a challenge to make shows happen. Then in July of 2023 I had a serious car accident in my 32 Ford. I am not as mobile as I was. Maybe God's way of saying it is time to go back to just enjoying your time with fellow car owners. Sit back and share the good times. I admit I miss the action, miss the people, loved what we offered to car owners.
I started doing events in 1971. Worked for NSRA, Street Machines of America until forming USMA in 76, becoming a car club producing & promoting specialty car & truck event. The program was put together, papers filed with the state of Michigan 1978.
53 years is a long time, met a million fantastic people along the way. Raised a million dollars for 100 charities. Put together a staff of the most dedicated people anyone could have. Sadly, throughout the years we have lost over a dozen wonderful staff & 75 members who made these 1000 car events happen. As hard as I have tried to honor those that have passed, most cruisers in the last 10 years did not get the chance to meet those who came before them and led the way, making our hobby and club the very best.
We do not host events. Our great sponsors, our members who have a business that can assist fellow members. We will continue the website and monitor it for a while. It is costly, but if cruisers are not going there to visit, it is wasteful.
Two very important people who I have always tried to feature on the site are Dave King and Billy Sohns. I have tried to tell their background thru stories. pictures & videos. I am so afraid when there is no-one to read and follow, they too will just be forgotten in our hobby.
USMA for the future. We will continue member emails, posts on Facebook. Please as always, USMA members & friends can reach out to me. I love the old stories, the fun time we shared. Every now and then a member, family members from the 70's strikes up a note or conversation. Always and forever, I love what USMA brought to the hobby.
USMA will not be a calendar of events. Every time we tried that; we would be bombarded with every issue someone had attending. If we suggested attending, it was our fault if the day didn't go well, or they expected USMA to handle the show day especially the judging.
There will never be another like what USMA did. The number of members, number of events, money raised, nobody could do what USMA did on such a huge level. If we hadn't retired, we could still be offering 40 events. I made USMA a turnkey program that our customers with WOMC radio & charities loved. Everyone always says you should go out on top. We left the cruisers wanting more. Always had fantastic customers and sponsors who cared about our service helping all charities. Our policy, best judging program, offer more, give more back than any other show. Car owners deserve it for all they do to support USMA events.
We had 9,987 members join. We stopped taking members 9 years ago because it became a forty hour a week full time expensive job back long before the days of computers, emails, Facebook and social media. That labor expense plus mailing, basic office expenses etc. just could not be covered. It forced us to charge the customer more, find ways to recover operation costs. A true team of people selling thousands of club shirts, jackets, merchandise to help offset show costs certainly helped. Fabulous Members trained, studied, & worked hard to use the best judging system in the hot rod world. What Dave King and I put together in 1978 has been copied/tried 100 times.
You have thoughts, ideas to help keep the website entertaining please let us know. I have asked sponsors to send us info, members who have a business that can be helpful to all members. A place members can go for service.
Thanks, If you are reading this or a friend. From day one we tried to be as transparent about what we did and how we did it. For years we offered club meetings, sometimes with 250 members attending. Report on how the charity did. Our goals, future plans. Always members first! Fair, honest, great customer service, be the best we could be. Cruise on my friends. I promise to reach out a hand in friendship forever.
If you are a member lifer, you will always be part of "Simply the Best" United Street Machine Assoc. Customs & Rods
Ralph Haney Proud of USMA for life.
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
UNITED STREET MACHINE ASSOC. PRESIDENT, DAVE J. KING
Oct. 27, 1946 - Apr. 14, 2012
