Doug Herbert may originally be from California, but during the June 18-20 NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, he will call Thunder Valley home…something he has enjoyed doing many times during his career.

“Bristol is a fun place,” Herbert started. “I’ve always liked going to Bristol. I won my first Top Fuel race there. Bristol is just a cool place and one of my favorites.”

Herbert won several IHRA Top Fuel titles in Thunder Valley during the 1990s and was the man to beat when the tour visited Northeast Tennessee. When asked why he was so dominant in Bristol, Herbert said, just like everything else in racing, it is dependent on a number of factors.

John Force, the 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion and motorsports’ biggest personality, will be the Newsmaker of the Week guest on the one-year anniversary of The Race Reporters radio show, Wednesday, June 9, 7 p.m. EDT, on www.PowerUpChannel.com.

Force was interviewed on the very first The Race Reporters show. Original media panelists Paul Page, of ESPN2’s NHRA drag racing coverage; and Jon Asher, of Attitude's CompetitionPlus.com, also will return for the anniversary program. Plus several surprise guests, from around the racing world, will be on to mark the show’s one-year mark.

NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Alexis De Joria experienced her first racing accident last year at the NHRA Supernationals in Englishtown, NJ. This weekend she races at Raceway Park for the first time since the parachutes were ripped from her car following a 260 mph pass sending her into the redesigned sand trap, through one catch net and into the second.

Her accident was the second of two Raceway Park shutdown incidents since Scott Kalitta’s fatal accident during the 2008 event.

Rhonda C Cohen seeks her PhD in England and one of her studies focuses on thrill-seeking in extreme sports. We drag racing fans understand our sport is the ultimate thrill-seeking adventure. Cohen is asking for race fans to assist her in this study.

One day after completing the NHRA Route 66 Nationals, members of John Force Racing and Don Schumacher Racing tested various combinations as part of the NHRA’s ongoing data-gathering process regarding nitro engines.

John Force Racing tested the 75 gallons per minute [GPM] fuel pump as well as the smaller displacement engine while Don Schumacher Racing worked with a restrictor plate device.

“Depending on how you were looking at the test, it went okay,” confirmed Mike Neff, a co-crewchief for John Force. “It definitely ran better than the 60 gallon pump. We didn’t do a lot with it, just a couple of runs.”

A source close to Don Schumacher Racing has confirmed the team will park the Pro Stock Motorcycle team ridden by Craig Treble effective immediately. This comes days after rider Treble scored the No. 1 qualifying position at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago.

While multicar teams are certainly not uncommon in the sport of drag racing, they aren’t exactly the norm.

Drag racing, unlike other top tier motorsports, thrives on the backs of single car teams and small, often time’s family-owned operations competing alongside massive teams with two, three and sometimes four cars making up their camp.

And then of course there is Mitch King.

During the 30th annual NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway last month, Danny Lowry made a 4.36-second exhibition pass in his turbocharged Outlaw 10.5 Ford Mustang. It was no record setter, but as Johnny Fenn watched from the starting line, he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by a sense of pride and accomplishment.

“It was the first time an Outlaw 10.5 car had ever performed at an NHRA national event and the crowd just loved it,” the Outlaw Racing Street Car Association (ORSCA) president recalled. “Six, eight years ago there’s no way that could have happened. Our cars, our drivers, just weren’t ready, but to see an ORSCA driver out there at an NHRA event, it was very satisfying.”

Gearstar Performance Transmissions, a leading high-performance transmission manufacturer, has partnered with the Super Chevy Show, which combines a car show with first-rate drag racing, to become a sponsor of the touring series, which is celebrating his 30th anniversary this season.

Gearstar transmissions are used by many car show and racers who compete in the Super Chevy Show sportsman racing events. "Gearstar Performance Transmissions is proud and excited to be a part of these fantastic events," said Zack Farah, owner and founder of Gearstar. "We look forward to all the action that the Super Chevy Show provides."

Mark Mariani is looking to be the first multiple Australian Top Fuel championship series event winner this season at this weekend’s Castrol EDGE Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway, Ipswich, after winning the recent Nitro Champs.     

With five different winners from five Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) Pro Series Top Fuel championship events, Mariani believes he and the Sydney-based Rapisarda Racing/Titan Cranes team have the form to win back-to-back events.

Mariani, who is in his first full-season driving for the highly respected two-car Rapisarda team, won his first Top Fuel championship event at last month’s Nitro Champs at the Sydney Dragway (SD).