Johnny Petraglia knows he’s in the twilight of his career, but even at age 71 says he still feels he can be competitive against the best bowlers in the world – it’s just a little less under his control than it used to be.

Petraglia, a PBA Hall of Famer, joined the PBA more than 50 years ago and still competes in occasional PBA Tour and PBA50 Tour events. He’ll be among the field this weekend at the PBA50 Storm Invitational, which will be broadcast LIVE on FloBowling.

One of the biggest challenges the left-hander said he faces as he gets older is his ball speed. He said he simply doesn’t have the speed to overpower the patterns like he used to, but it’s something he’s working on.

“The main problem when you get older is ball speed, and what’s going on with the way the PBA does the lanes now, one thing you need is ball speed,” Petraglia said. “You have to really keep the speed up, which is tough for me to do. I’ve been working on trying to get more ball speed without messing up my game at the same time. When I’m practicing, I’m starting to throw the ball harder than I was, so it’s starting to get comfortable and I think things are on an upswing.”

In order to be competitive these days, Petraglia said the lane conditions have to match up to his game, not the other way around.

“I’m still competitive depending on the lane condition,” Petraglia said. “You reach a point where the lane conditions have to suit you to be competitive. When you’re in your prime, the lane conditions don’t necessarily have to suit you. You can bowl over it if you’re bowling really well. What has happened is now, the last year or so, the lane conditions have to suit me to be competitive.”

Over the course of his long career, Petraglia has won 14 PBA Tour titles and eight PBA50 titles. He’s also one of a handful of PBA Tour “Triple Crown” winners, and when he won the 2012 PBA50 Dayton Classic, he became the only player to win on either the PBA Tour or PBA50 Tour in six decades.

Today, Petraglia continues to lace up at events throughout the year. He bowled the PBA Tournament of Champions and the Go Bowling! PBA 60^th Anniversary Classic earlier this year, while also competing in six PBA50 events.

When he’s not on the lanes, Petraglia continues to do work for Brunswick, a company he has been affiliated with for 47 years. He still attends grand openings, works with pro shops in the New York and New Jersey areas and does speaking engagements.

“I signed with Brunswick in 1971, and it has been magical,” Petraglia said. “Over the 47 years, they have changed bosses and people retired, but they have never changed the way they treat me. They have always treated me like family. They have been terrific. It’s made a huge difference in my life, it really has.”

The event closest to Petraglia’s heart these days is the annual PBA50 Johnny Petraglia BVL Open, which he is closely involved in. A veteran of the Vietnam War, Petraglia sees the event in Farmingdale, New York, as an opportunity to give back.

“We raise money for the veterans, and the people on Long Island have been great,” Petraglia said. “We have drawn about 600 pro-am entries every year, and what that does is it raises about $50,000. We’ve done that for the past three years, so we’ve raised almost $150,000.”

Petraglia’s passion for the sport and desire to win are still strong and both traits are sure to be on display at the PBA50 Storm Invitational this weekend.